Soccer star from Stockton shocked after Sonoma State ends athletics
STOCKTON — Students and faculty were shocked this week when Sonoma State University abruptly announced it was ending its intercollegiate athletics programs along with several academic departments and majors.
It means student-athletes are left without a place to play and dozens of faculty members are out of a job — all to counter a $24 million budget deficit.
Junior and Stockton-native Marivic Lek-Miro just transferred from Stanislaus State in the fall and got only one season with her teammates, whom she referred to as family. She is one of the upwards of 30 Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto locals facing an uncertain collegiate future.
"Seeing all of my teammates crying and just completely devastated, I just think that it's definitely unfair," Lek-Miro said.
Sonoma State also said it won't be renewing the contracts of 46 faculty members next school year. Some of the degree programs cut include things like art history, physics, theater, and one of the oldest women and gender studies in the system's history.
The university is also citing a decline in student enrollment as a reason for the cuts.
"From what I've heard, there was no communication between making this decision. It was just full-on 'oh, we're just canceling all sports,' " Lek-Miro said.
The sudden cut also came as a shock to long-time head women's soccer coach Emiria Salzmann, who not only brought the team numerous championships and NCAA tournament appearances but also played for the school in her prime. She made stops in Sacramento professional sports, playing for the Sacramento Storm and Sacramento Thunder from 1997-1999.
In an email response to our request for a statement, Salzmann said:
"As of January 22, 2025, Sonoma State University decided to cut our entire Athletics Department. There will no longer be sports offered at SSU so any recruiting email will not be responded to. Thank you for your interest and know that it saddens us deeply to know that our historic women's soccer program has come to an end."
Lek-Miro called the move unfair and said there was no warning before the email went out to the entire school, regardless of if students who got the email were impacted by the decision. She said the way the school handled the situation was, "definitely unfair."
Boys' basketball players who spoke to CBS13 said despite the announcement, their game against Stanislaus State in Turlock tonight went on without disruptions.
