Late last month, UC San Diego released a three-minute video promoting the public phase of its $2 billion fund-raising campaign to further transform a university recently ranked No. 1 in the world among those founded between 1945 and 1966.

The video opens with the iconic library named for Dr. Seuss author Ted Geisel and twice includes scenes from its rows of shelved books. There are aerial views of campus, sculptures, the medical center, labs, an oceanography ship plying the waves. It highlights research into eradicating malaria by genetically immunizing mosquitoes, stemming the abuse of women in India, using robots to improve health care for the elderly, creating innovative theater stages.

It shows no scenes of intercollegiate athletics. The closest it comes is a group of cyclists and two people jogging on the beach.


“Any university can say they’re different,” the video’s narration begins, then waxes about “a heritage of boldly embracing nonconformity … of understanding that sometimes conventional wisdom makes total nonsense … of searching for solutions in the glaringly non-obvious, of delivering student experience unlike anywhere else … (of) our noble march along the ever-twisting path of non-convention.”

Its final plea: “Help us continue the non-tradition.”

Does that look and sound like a university desperately seeking NCAA Division I status in sports?

UCSD’s latest attempt was derailed a little over a week ago when the Big West Conference denied its membership application in a vote of presidents and chancellors. Twice before student referendums failed. This time the students voted to bankroll a move to Div. I by increasing their Intercollegiate Athletics fee nearly $3,500 over four years, but only with an invitation from the Big West by September 2018.


The bigger picture, though, asks a bigger question: Does UCSD really want to go Div. I? Is it in its DNA?

The students said yes by a 6,137 to 2,567 margin last May. A faculty vote offered 62-percent approval in December. And Chancellor Pradeep Khosla appears to be on board.

Or is he? It’s hard to tell, given the dearth of public comments and appearances about Div. I over the previous year, by the lack of fist-pounding indignation at news of the Big West’s expansion vote. The athletic director and vice chancellor for student affairs released a vanilla, two-paragraph joint statement; Khosla was conspicuously silent.

And herein lies the ultimate dilemma for a university that, by virtue of its relatively recent creation and staggering growth, finds itself caught in a classic identity crisis. A school too large and accomplished for Div. II yet without the cut-throat ethos of Div. I. A school with “a heritage of boldly embracing nonconformity” and a “noble march along the ever-twisting path of non-convention” faced with a decision that, in some respects, reeks of conformity and convention.


A school that embraces its nerdy reputation confronted with the idea of going rah-rah.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish … out of water.

Khosla might indeed understand that inner conflict, and any apprehension toward Div. I — real or perceived — may be reflective of that. Or maybe the electrical engineer who grew up in Mumbai, India, and spent most of his academic career at Carnegie Mellon (which has the distinction of once being Div. I and now playing at Div. III) isn’t versed in the back-room workings of the bad, big world of intercollegiate sports at its highest level.

Either way, the matzah ball is on his plate now. The students, faculty and athletic department have done their part. If it is to be salvaged from the depths, he’s the one who has operate the crane.


Even after receiving the unanimous support of the Big West’s athletic directors, UCSD needed a super majority, or seven votes, from the nine chancellors and presidents. The conference did not release official results, but UCSD got four or five votes, depending on the source.

Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell has said conferences expand for one of two reasons, survival or opportunity. The Big West is currently stable, and there are some who believe UCSD — despite all its academic prowess — doesn’t offer enough commercial “opportunity” given its low profile in the San Diego market.

The Big West might be holding out for the school that does, San Diego State, if it ever finds a football-only conference that offers more financial return than the Mountain West. That would push the Aztecs’ other sports to the Big West, which was the plan before SDSU’s 2013 move to the Big East in football collapsed.

Others talk about shedding the reputation of being the conference where Div. IIs become Div. I.


Farrell spoke about something else, though, when discussing the decision not to invite the Tritons. He used the word, “balance.”

That is code for the current make-up of the conference: four UCs (Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Davis), four CSUs (Fullerton, Long Beach, Northridge, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) and Hawaii. Add another UC, and that disrupts the political equilibrium unless they add another CSU like Bakersfield — and there seems to be no appetite for that, having turned down the Roadrunners multiple times since they elevated from Div. II in 2010.

The Tritons got four votes from their UC brethren. Hawaii may or may not have joined them. The four CSUs appear to have voted no as a bloc.

That’s where Khosla, who has been so good for the university in so many ways, can help. This is no longer about getting 6,137 student votes, or 457 from the faculty. This isn’t about getting the Big West ADs on board. This is about getting two, maybe three votes, and how badly you want them. And only one person has the juice to get them.


The approach of gaining student and faculty support, then submitting an application to the Big West, then saying “Here we are, let us in,” clearly didn’t work.

It doesn’t make sense on the surface, but not a lot of does in Div. I athletics. Otherwise, West Virginia wouldn’t be sending tennis teams 1,285 miles to Lubbock, Texas. Otherwise, Wichita State wouldn’t have just joined a conference with trips to Philadelphia, New Orleans, Orlando, Greenville, N.C., and Storrs, Conn. Otherwise, the Western Athletic Conference would have more than two schools in the Pacific time zone.

Otherwise, the Big 12 wouldn’t have 10 members and the Big Ten wouldn’t have 14.

That means two things before UCSD’s student fee referendum expires in 17 months. First, Khosla and his inner circle must decide — and then robustly promote — that, yes, Div. I athletics is central to the university’s identity and future. Second, they must roll up their sleeves, chomp down on a cigar, sit across the desk of CSU power brokers and ask: “What’s it gonna take to get into your league?”


Or to use their words: Search for solutions in the glaringly non-obvious.

Aztecs × On Now Video: Aztecs make history with upset over No. 6 Nevada On Now Aztecs prepare for Fresno State On Now Aztecs beat New Mexico, 97-77 On Now Dutcher, Aztecs prepare for Air Force On Now Aztecs beat Wyoming, 84-54 On Now Aztecs prepare for conference game against Boise On Now Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64 On Now Rocky Long: "This team has overachieved" On Now SDSU West bests SoccerCity as voters embrace a new vision for Mission Valley stadium site On Now Aztecs win season opener, 76-60

mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler