Statement on 2020-21 UAA Winter Scheduling; Carnegie Mellon Continues to Strive Towards Competition

(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) – The University Athletic Association (UAA) Presidents Council has unanimously approved a resolution to cancel all formal UAA winter sport competition for the 2020-21 season. Carnegie Mellon University is one of eight institutions that form the UAA along with Brandeis University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University, University of Rochester, University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis.

“The UAA resolution applies to formal UAA competition only, and Carnegie Mellon will continue to pursue competitive opportunities for all sports during the spring semester,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor in an e-mail to Carnegie Mellon’s student-athletes. “Our Return to Play Task Force, coaching staff and administrative leadership team continue to meet regularly to monitor the landscape, discuss procedures and develop plans for intercollegiate competition. There are still hurdles to clear, but we are working as hard as we can to get you back on the fields of play.”

Over the last several months, several UAA committees comprising athletic administrators, vice presidents and deans, faculty athletics representatives, athletic trainers, and others have met on a regular basis to consider how winter sport competition might take place as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect UAA campuses, their communities, and the nation. In the course of those discussions, it became clear that a substantial number of issues related to the implementation of recommended NCAA testing protocols for winter sports; current institutional travel limitations; local and state travel quarantine guidelines; local restrictions on the size of group gatherings; event management; and contingency planning to provide care for individuals who may test positive or become symptomatic while traveling present challenges that cannot be resolved in a manner that would facilitate an acceptable level of risk mitigation for student-athletes, coaches, officials, staff and others involved in the conduct of UAA winter sport competition.

Accordingly, member institutions within the UAA may determine which, if any, currently scheduled UAA contests they are able to retain. As institutions work to identify and schedule competition with institutions outside the UAA, they remain committed to working cooperatively with each other to adjust any remaining, viable dates of UAA competition in order to provide each other with as much flexibility as possible in reshaping their winter schedules.

“I am grateful to the athletics directors from across the UAA’s eight member schools and UAA Executive Vice President Dick Rasmussen for their commitment and dedication over the past several months to consider how best to support our scholar-athletes,” said Farnam Jahanian, President of Carnegie Mellon University and Chair of the UAA Presidents Council. “Our athletics programs bring such vitality and school spirit to our communities. While it is very disappointing to contemplate another season without UAA competition, our commitment to student health and safety is at odds with a conference schedule that would require travel at significant distances. We look forward to a return to play within the UAA as soon as we can, and I am confident that we will be stronger than ever when we can once again compete.”

This resolution applies only to those sports for which the UAA sponsors championship competition during the winter (i.e., basketball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and wrestling). The Athletic Administrators Committee intends to address spring sports separately during the coming months as circumstances evolve and more information becomes available to guide decisions.

For up-to-date coronavirus information from the university, please visit Carnegie Mellon’s Coronavirus alert webpage.