Facilities: Saint Louis University is targeting August 28 to break ground on its new $80.5 million multipurpose arena. Construction is expected to last until March 2008. "I am very pleased to tell the St. Louis community that the beginning of this significant project is here," said university President Lawrence Biondi. "This arena will be a beacon for midtown St. Louis as well as further enriching our university campus life." The complex includes a 10,600-seat arena, which will be home to the Billikens’ men’s and women’s basketball games and a host of other events; an athletics practice facility, which also will host women’s volleyball games; and a three-story building that will house athletics department offices and support facilities. "A firm groundbreaking date will have an immediate impact on our recruiting efforts for men’s and women’s basketball as well as our other teams," said Athletics Director Cheryl Levick ... The University of Notre Dame announced that Linda and Paul Demo, the mother and stepfather of Notre Dame alumna Melissa Cook, have made a $3 million gift to the university for the construction of a new softball stadium in her memory. "The circumstances of this extraordinary gift are sobering, but the way in which it will honor Melissa is wonderful," said Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president. Cook was one of four people killed in March 2002 when a section of scaffolding fell from the John Hancock Center onto her car in downtown Chicago. Cook’s cousin, Jill Nelson, also died, and Linda Demo and Nelson’s mother were among the seven people injured in the accident. The families of those who died and were injured reached a settlement earlier this year with the skyscraper’s owner and other companies named in a joint lawsuit. The Demos have devoted much of their portion of the settlement to the gift to Notre Dame and to their Melissa Cook Memorial Foundation, which will provide financial assistance to students from Northwest Indiana to the college of their choice. "Melissa truly loved Notre Dame and also believed deeply in the value of athletics participation for women," said Linda Demo. "Paul and I believe this gift is an ideal way to remember her and the deep commitment she had to the university and women’s athletics." Cook played for the Fighting Irish softball team in 1991 and 1992, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1994. Work on the $4.8 million Melissa Cook Stadium will begin when the project is fully funded. The university is actively seeking additional funding for the project.  

Sports sponsorship: The board of governors for Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, approved a university-wide budget for the 2006-07 academic year that includes $52.4 million in spending cuts to programs, staff and services that will affect virtually all academic and administrative operations. The board approved the university’s 2006-07 spending plan in the wake of the recently adopted state budget, which significantly reduced funding for higher education and left Rutgers with an unprecedented shortfall of $80.4 million. The university-wide cuts will include position eliminations, layoffs, cuts in courses and course sections, as well as the elimination of six intercollegiate sports, effective at the end of the 2006-07 season. The affected sports are men’s heavyweight rowing, men’s lightweight rowing, men’s and women’s fencing, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s tennis. Those sports will compete during the 2006-07 season. All scholarship commitments made to any of the affected student-athletes will be honored. "Any time you’re put in a position of denying opportunities for students, it’s a heartbreaking situation," said Athletics Director Robert E. Mulcahy III. "Every student-athlete in our program is a valuable member of our athletic and university community. But this action is absolutely necessary when faced with our financial challenges. An overriding goal for us is to find the balance between providing opportunity for as many participants as possible, while ensuring the best possible experience for our student-athletes. It became increasingly apparent that, in our present fiscal situation, we could not guarantee all of our participants the rewarding and meaningful experience that a student-athlete at Rutgers deserves." Even with the reduction of six sports, Rutgers will continue to field 24 varsity sports and provide opportunities for about 600 student-athletes.