For the second time in five years, UC San Diego students will consider raising their fees to move their sports team to the highest division in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The Associated Students unanimously agreed to bring the proposal to students last week, and a vote is scheduled May 16-20.

“This is a debate we’ve been having for 20 years,” said Ping Yeh, an alumnus who played Division III tennis at UC San Diego.

Yeh was one of two graduates who spoke in favor of the move to Division I at the meeting. No one spoke against it, and about 10 students also spoke in favor of putting the idea on the ballot.


Associate Student President Dominick Suvonnasupa said the strongest request he heard was to put the idea on a ballot to let students decide themselves.

Advocates say the move to Division I in the NCAA would bring a greater level of attention to the university, which is known more for its research and academics than its athletic teams.

Students now pay $388 in annual fees, and they will be asked to increase the fee by $480, phased over three years. The first year’s increase would be $180, followed by a $165 in the second year and another $135 in the third year.

Much of the money would fund athletic scholarships, along with paying coaches’ salaries and other expenses associated with complying with Division I requirements.


UC San Diego Athletics Director Earl Edwards said he was very pleased with the vote at last Wednesday’s Associated Students meeting.

“To approve putting a vote on the move of the intercollegiate athletics program to NCAA Division I in the hands of our undergraduate students is part of a logical progression,” said Edwards, who oversaw the Tritons transition from Division III to Division II in 2001. “This has been a student-centered movement from the beginning.”

Yeh, who graduated from UC San Diego in 1999 and earned a master’s in engineering there in 2001, said he believes alumni would appreciate being able to watch their school’s team on national television, and he believes the move would create a greater identity among undergrads.

During his presentation to the Associated Students, Yeh said that as CEO of a biotech company he founded, he often interviews job candidates from some of the nation’s top schools.


“I notice that when I talk to someone at a Division I school, the way they describe their school is with a unified focus,” he said. “When you ask someone who went to UCLA, they say, ‘I’m a Bruin.’ Or in Minnesota, they say, ‘I’m a Golden Gopher.’ But if you ask a UCSD student, they never say, ‘I’m a Triton.’”

Yeh, who lives in Minnesota but was in town on business, said there seems to be a lack of identity and even pride at UC San Diego, where students are more likely to say the college they attend rather than the university itself.

The vote will require participation of at least 20 percent of undergraduate students to be official, and support from more than 50 percent of those voting is needed for approval.

If the fee increase is approved, UC San Diego will need an invitation to join an existing NCAA Division I conference before it can apply for Division 1 status.


Most likely, UC San Diego would join the Big West Conference, which includes Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, CSU Northridge, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Hawaii.

A 2011 feasibility study recommended moving to Division I because of the other schools’ geographic proximity and similar academic profiles and enrollment numbers.

The move to Division I would not bring a football team to UC San Diego, but it would bring greater awareness to the school’s 23 existing teams, greater benefits to the athletes and a greater recruitment tool for the university.

Students last considered a fee increase to move to Division I in 2011, but the proposed failed by a vote of 6,470 to 4,673. Fees would have increased by $495 annually, raising the athletic budget from $7 million to $12 million.


Although students rejected the proposal just five years ago, Associated Student President Dominick Suvonnasupa said times have changed, and the proposal may have a better chance at succeeding.

At the time of the last vote, UC San Diego students had faced a 79 percent increase in undergraduate education and registration fees over the preceding five years.

Just last year, students voted to increase their annual fees by $42 to support operations at the Price Center and Student Center. In 2014, they voted to establish a student transportation fee of about $50 a quarter.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com