For now, Cal Poly’s swim and dive teams have been cut from the school’s sports programs. But one swim parent said there’s a beacon of hope, despite months of rough waters.
On June 16, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong announced that the university’s swim and dive teams hadn’t raised $15 million, a challenge Armstrong imposed upon the teams if they wanted to stay operational.
“While I appreciate the significant annual support and revocable bequests that have been identified, the fundraising effort has fallen well short of the goal to reinstate the program. As a result, the university is unable to reinstate the swimming and diving programs,” Armstrong said in the statement.
Cal Poly swim and dive athletes, alongside Cal Poly Swim Dive Parents, have been campaigning to keep the teams alive since March, after the university announced a budget deficit of $24 million and consequently discontinued the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.
After public upset, Armstrong challenged the swim and dive teams to raise $25 million by mid-June if they wanted to remain operational. In May, Armstrong lowered that amount to $15 million.
According to Armstrong’s June 16 statement, $15 million was the “absolute minimum” required to realistically support the programs.
Cal Poly Swim Dive Parent Kelli Hayes told New Times that by June 16, the teams had raised more than $9 million toward the effort.
After receiving the news of the program’s discontinuation, Hayes said an alumni reached out to the president to ask about their options.
“Immediately afterwards, one of our alumni reached out to Armstrong and said, ‘Would you keep your commitment to reinstate us if we were to still get to the $15 million goal?’ And President Armstrong replied very plainly on [June] 17, ‘Absolutely,'” Hayes said.
The email also confirmed the swim and dive teams would need to raise $15 million, but the amount could increase due to annual inflation.
“If the university were to receive an endowment offer at some point in the future that would fully fund swimming and diving, we would reconsider it on its merits at that time,” Armstrong wrote.
New Times contacted Cal Poly for further comment but was referred to Armstrong’s June 16 statement.
The Cal Poly swimming and diving programs are continuing campaign efforts, although Hayes told New Times they’ve returned $100,000 of GoFundMe donations since it is currently unclear whether the team would compete in the 2025-26 swim season.
Hayes said they’d rather people donate again toward the new effort if they still wish, which now isn’t under a deadline.
The other $9 million in pledges are kept securely with the swim dive group and would not go to Cal Poly until an agreement had been reached, Hayes added. Δ
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 6, 2025.