Once again, UNBC has been turned down in its bid to join Canadian Interuniversity Sport's Canada West Conference.
The Canada West Universities Athletic Association membership committee voted Thursday at a meeting in Victoria not to accept UNBC's proposal to become part of CIS, Canada's highest level of college or university athletics.
UNBC had hoped to have its men's and women's basketball teams and its men's and women's soccer teams playing in the CIS for the 2012-13 season.
Approval of 75 per cent of the Canada West membership committee was needed for UNBC to join as the 16th member school. Results of Thursday's vote were not available, but it was close.
"We put a very strong application forward and unfortunately it fell one or two votes short for us to get to that 75 per cent," said UNBC athletics and recreation director Jason Kerswill. "We were very very close."
Kerswill said there were concerns among some voting members about travel costs to Prince George. Teams would be required to visit UNBC every two years. Another factor, he said, was the uncertainty among the member schools about the structure of Canada West and whether it will follow through on a proposal to adopt a tiered system that would separate the larger schools from the smaller ones while taking into account regional representation.
A month ago at its annual general meeting in Saskatoon, Canada West accepted membership bid of Mount Royal University in Calgary to include four sports -- basketball, volleyball, soccer and hockey. At that time, the vote on UNBC was deferred a month to give UNBC officials time to change the bid to include its two soccer teams.
Rules governing CIS expansion were changed last month, requiring member schools to have at least two different sports represented. At the meeting in Saskatoon, UNBC was given time to raise its budget to accommodate the soccer teams, which would have required paid coaches.
"After a month of waiting, I thought with the additional support we gave our soccer teams, I was cautiously confident we would see a yes vote, but it just didn't happen," Kerswill said.
The news was discouraging to UNBC president George Iwama, who thought his school did everything it could to gain CIS acceptance.
"I'm disappointed by the outcome of the vote earlier today," said Iwama, in an email to the Citizen. "Canada West was presented with an opportunity to expand the reach of its association into the North, and showcase some of Canada's best and brightest student-athletes to our very deserving region.
"We understood that through the addition of a director of athletics and a second sport, we would be in a more favourable position than last year. Unfortunately, this was not enough to change the outcome of the vote."
UNBC first submitted a CIS bid in July 2008 and in May 2009, Canada West officials decided to put off a decision for one year. That bid was rejected in May 2010 over concerns about UNBC's failure to fill the position of athletics director, the cost of travel the city for its member teams, and the fact UNBC was applying for limited CIS entry for only one sport (basketball). In December, UNBC was granted approval to reapply to Canada West with its two varsity sports.
Kerswill, who is also vice-president of marketing in the BCCAA, said he will have to discuss with senior administration at UNBC if it plans to pursue membership in Canada West.
"We're still going to be proud members of the BCCAA and will strive to put the best teams forward next year and hopefully bring some BCCAA championships and a sniff at a national championship back to Prince George," Kerswill said.
