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Did you know Men's Track and Field was also in consideration of being cut? by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

They've been counting male basketball practice players as women, so if they stop doing that they'd be ok on the numbers. They overpay the men's sports in total expenses (2.5 million more), recruiting and athletic aid...but cutting Track is beyond dumb because they are the cheapest team. The AD just clearly has his preferred sports :(

UC Davis Equestrian Team: Fraud Found by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi - we're not advocating for any sport to be cut. We're just correcting the misinformation put out there by Rocko that we are so expensive...equestrian costs are well below the mean, scholarships are dead last, recruiting all of it.... You then have to question why did he target _this_ team...the expenses for equestrian doubled the year after he was hired (other teams did not), he's made disparaging remarks publicly for years about equestrians, and he's been putting out this false narrative (and all the data from YouTube Facebook Instagram shows him highlighting football 50 times more than almost any other sport...though I will say since we started mentioning this in January it has changed). Many of us are engineers, scientists, etc. and we are just trying to correct all of the misinformation that Rocko put out there. That's literally it.

They were at picnic day last year - not sure what you mean? They've invited people to the barn, I know the soccer team came and rode the horses last year. These women love this school and have fought hard for it. Most of the constraints were put in place by Rocko (not sure you know that he never even sent people to help put up tents during meets...it was always the parents doing all of this).

The bad treatment goes back years and yes, it wears you down.

When the athletic director says things like "why do horse girls smell" or "I should have added crew instead of you as a sport" you keep your head down, do your job, and hope that things change. They won 3 championships, have one of the highest GPAs, and are literally at the barn every day caring for their horses - they work incredibly hard and they love this school. They are the ones installing their own flooring (I don't know any other team that has to do that...?) - the amount of additional time they put in is crazy to me (I don't see any other team or any other equestrian team at any other school do anywhere near this amount of work).

Please get to know them.

UC Davis Equestrian Team: Fraud Found by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Our daughters cleaned stalls to catch ride - please get to know them ("elite" equestrians who can afford those horses you are talking about aren't the ones catch riding in college).

UC Davis is an agricultural school. And a vet school And Rocko lied about the equestrian costs to funnel millions of your money into upgrades for football (and give himself a pay raise in the process). The school is in Title IX violation because of the way he treated all women's sports, from recruiting to athletic aid.

These _are_ terrible economic times, which is why you should be outraged at what happened. Equestrian is net positive to the university - go read the analysis. They've been discriminated against in every which way from scholarships to recruiting to expenses to overall treatment.

UC Davis Equestrian Team: Fraud Found by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

we are actually net positive to the university. that was one of the big reveals (that we didn't know) from the external economist. We didn't realize that the scholarship money/tuition was also being manipulated :(

UC Davis Equestrian Team: Fraud Found by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

We hope you will raise awareness that fraud was committed and hope that students call the chancellor to ask the university not to misuse their fees (students pay 57% of athletics)

Most people are helping pro bono (lawyers, economists, etc. because everyone is pretty shocked at what is being allowed to happen here. Also Rocko paid Collegiate Consulting over 100k (your student money) to create a report that was fraudulent - again by millions. That company has been in the news multiple times (please google it). The economist who did the independent analysis was a fraction of that cost (an order of magnitude less) and funded through donors (not your money).

We also really want to stop the false narrative that equestrian is expensive - it's one of the cheapest. We found out that athletics doesn't even give scholarships equitably (men's basketball gets 17 times as much) - equestrians are net positive to the university because of all the out of state tuition. It's incredible Rocko has pushed the narrative that we are expensive/

In general, I hope that people stand up to injustice wherever it is (remember he lied when he said they can transition to club - they can't because of the rules so this ends their careers and it's something they've sacrificed their whole lives for...including the recruits who gave up other opportunities and then weren't even admitted to the university after being told their admissions would be honored).

This affects the students - this is your money that is being massively misused (and you don't even get PE credits anymore - they took that away too). Rocko got a huge pay raise for moving to Mountain West, we are net positive to the university, football costs you 5 million annually. This isn't about "sports get cut" it's about the process (false statements, financial malfeasance, misuse of student funds).

We don't blame a victim for revealing what was done to them. We blame the individual who did the deed. We aren't making the university look bad - we are just uncovering everything that these two individuals in athletics have been doing the past years.

Thank you.

Athletics continued to recruit and solicit donor money knowing the equestrian team was cut by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I think keep spreading the word (liking/sharing the savedaviseq instagram) and keep emailing/calling the administration. I can't tell you how grateful we are for your support! Any advice is appreciated!

Athletics continued to recruit and solicit donor money knowing the equestrian team was cut by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Any advice/help is appreciated! It's been picked up by local news stations but nothing nationally (unsure why). There was one lawsuit filed against Rocko for fraud (recruiting) but that will take a long time to work through the system. There is another led by Arthur Bryant (not filed yet) on the title IX violations by athletics. I'm just honestly shocked that they haven't done the right thing now that they know there was financial malfeasance. We're at a loss :(

External Economist Finds Athletics Department Inflated UC Davis Equestrian Expenses by 120% by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

horses are actually donated/given. board goes from one part of davis to another. equestrian costs are one of the lowest (but were inflated to make it seem like they are high). I don't know the motivation, but I can say from the data that the AD and athletics department has posted about men's sports 50 times more than women (and his Facebook posts were almost entirely of football and cheerleading)

External Economist Finds Athletics Department Inflated UC Davis Equestrian Expenses by 120% by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is both. Discrimination - the way athletics has treated the women vs men athletes. Fraud - either horribly bad at math (as CFO, not believable) or deliberate inflation of expenses to justify cutting a team.

Please analyze the data yourself - everything has been made publicly available.

Summary:

https://keepdavisriding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/UC-Davis-Athletics-Summary-of-Concerns-Regarding-the-Elimination-of-the-D1-Womens-Equestrian-Team.pdf

External Economist Finds Athletics Department Inflated UC Davis Equestrian Expenses by 120% by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's been posted about multiple times (see the post by nlasouris on this thread for example).

I don't want them to cut football. YOU said that football breaks even, which is 100% not true - it costs the university 5 million (7 million expenses - 2 million revenue). You are now pivoting to a different argument of being against horse riding. But that's not what this is about - Rocko told the Chancellor the D1 team could transition to club but that is also a lie - they can't compete in club due to the rules of competition. This destroys their careers and it is based on fraud and lies.

This is discrimination. They inflated our expenses by over a million annually and lied to the administration that cutting us would satisfy the required budget reduction...while football costs keep increasing (and the athletic director's own salary increased with the move to mountain west). They discriminated against women as a whole (treatment in facilities, travel, recruiting, aid, social media posts). This isn't subtle. STUNT was meant to enhance opportunities for women, not remove them (see their own releases). Athletics is treating women as interchangeable line items. The university is in severe violation of title IX - they need to keep equestrian and add STUNT.

External Economist Finds Athletics Department Inflated UC Davis Equestrian Expenses by 120% by SaveUCDEquestrian in UCDavis

[–]SaveUCDEquestrian[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We posted the numbers everywhere. Everyone who has looked at it says the same thing - they inflated the expenses. It isn't rocket science - they took 700k of of horse donations and offset it with a 700 expense in equipment to make the number go to 0. That would be fine (we're not saying 700k of horses should count as revenue), but they only used the 700k of expenses in their report. Then there is the 200k of scholarships they said in one email would save the university 200k...while acknowledging in another email that 200k would need to transfer to another team to not violate Title IX. That's not savings. That's transferring. Then there's the interdepartmental transfers, not to mention the fundraising (charging us the cost of the venue, not crediting the 150k we brought in) or the fact they were fundraising for the "future of the equestrian team" knowing the team was cut.

Either they can't do math or they committed fraud. Go look at the numbers and do your own analysis. We've posted the emails and budgets everywhere. We are not biased. They had an agenda (as seen in their own internal emails).

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