<p>I do not want to be too tangential here but it is interesting to note that the fencers from St. Benedict’s are not affluent at all. St. Benedict’s is in Newark and a lot of the students, almost all of them minorities, will be depending on scholarships to attend college, as the column in the Star Ledger made clear. It’s an interesting socioeconomic quirk that applies specifically to fencing in New Jersey. </p>
<p>I would also suggest that and the student body in general almost never cares about the “little” sports, which can be defined in various ways, but if it is your sport it matters a lot. Really, how many people come out to watch a cross-country meet at your average school? Or even women’s basketball except perhaps at Duke and UNC? Soccer? Lacrosse? Hockey? It is not a matter of finding the broadest appeal but of a large state university serving the state that finances it, and of having respect for people whose talents and interests are not those of the largest numbers of spectators or followers. Certainly the sports can be run as club programs but that’s not always feasible and not always fair to the participants if it requires them to lay out money they do not have because they are not stereotypically affluent.</p>
<p>I suspect you have to be a New Jersey taxpayer who has seen your own town and/or children benefit less and less from the taxces you pay to appreciate the effect the Rutgers decision has on people.</p>