Some University at Buffalo athletes staged a sit-in outside President Satish Tripathi's office Monday. They were protesting against UB's plans to cut four sports teams. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says a UB alumnus is planning to file a lawsuit.
“These are the kids that have spent their entire childhood training and training and training to be the next Michael Phelps. The pinnacle of it all is college competition,” said Richard Lydecker, lawyer.
Lydecker is a 1989 UB graduate and former member of UB's Swim team. Lydecker is a civil litigator is a senior partner at the Lydecker Dias law firm with offices in New York, Miami and Tampa.
Lydecker tells WBFO News he plans going forward with a lawsuit for about six swimmers asking the University to pay student expenses as they work to transfer to other schools where they can continue to swim.
“That’s going to probably be filed now in the next couple of days. Some of the swimmers have asked me, on a pro-bona, no charge whatsoever basis, if I would help file their notices of claims against the university for all the money they are out now, because think about it, scholarships are lost,” Lydecker explained.
Early last month, without a warning to team members, UB said it would be cutting the men's swim and diving teams, men's baseball, women's rowing and men's soccer. UB said cutting the programs would be a $2-million savings.
Lydecker tells us he donated $15,000 to UB since 2015, part of a full $50,000 total contribution commitment. He wrote a letter to UB President Tripathi asking for his donation back and calls on the school not to cut the programs.
“For about me paying the rest of the $50,000 pledge. Give these kids a two-year notice of you cancelling this program,” Lydecker said.
WBFO asked Lydecker if he has heard back from Tripathi. "No. He has refused to meet with us,” responded Lydecker.
We received a written statement from the University saying Tripathi met with two members of the swimming and dive team Monday who protested, but they didn't not reveal what was discussed.
"We understand how deeply disappointed our student-athletes and coaches are regarding the reduction in our athletic programs. This very difficult decision was made because of the unfortunate reality that we no longer have the resources to support 20 competitive Division I athletic teams. We are diligently working to provide our student-athletes with the support they need during this transition."
WBFO also reached out to the president of the student-athletes at UB and a member of the men’s swim team, but he did not respond to our call Monday.
