Protect an Important Protector of the Monterey Bay

Save the UCSC SCUBA Program

UC Santa Cruz's Recreational SCUBA program has been training divers for 50 years. It's incalculable contribution to the community of ocean advocates, scientists, and admirers is threatened.

The UCSC recreational SCUBA program teaches dozens of students to dive each year, creating an important community of witnesses to the world-class Monterey Bay ecosystem. Many of these divers have continued on to be leaders in protecting the Bay as scientists, educators and environmental advocates. While there are of course other SCUBA programs, the UCSC program provides a unique extensive academic introduction to diving the Monterey Bay.

Unfortunately, the program is in serious jeopardy and is being dismantled as a cost cutting measure. The dedicated director of the program for the past 18 years, Cecilia Shin, will be permanently terminated on December 14^th, 2020.

UC Santa Cruz needs to hear from you to help them understand the importance of training the next generation of divers who will appreciate the ocean enough to protect it.

Please contact:

Sue Harriman <sharrima@ucsc.edu> (Director of Athletics and Recreation, OPERS, who decided to cut the SCUBA program)
Sarah Latham <sclatham@ucsc.edu> (Ms. Harriman's supervisor)
Chancellor Cynthia Larive <chancellor@ucsc.edu> (the "CEO" of UC Santa Cruz)

Points to include in your email:

The SCUBA program has trained over 10,000 student divers over the past 50 years.
OPERS SCUBA prepares UCSC students for Scientific Diving and upper-division field courses, such as Kelp Forest Ecology and Field Quarter ocean research courses.
It trains divers for jobs while they are still attending college – at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Catalina Island Marine Institute, with UCSC research labs, on dive boats as Divemasters and Instructors, vessel hull servicing, etc.
Graduates of the program are working at California Academy of Sciences, California Science Center, NASA Ames, Lindblad Expeditions, Scripps Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium, National Park Service and more.
Fiscal responsibility is important, but OPERS has 18 Administrative positions, none of which were cut or reduced.
The 5 PE/Recreation supervisors provide popular services to the entire UCSC student population (including SCUBA, Dance, Pilates, Martial Arts, Kayaking, Outdoor Rental, Bike Maintenance, First Aid, CPR/First Aid, Wilderness Medicine, Banff Film Festival, Cooking).
A minor reduction to the hours of the 17 team coaches (who serve a small subset of students) could create budget to maintain other key student programs.
Students pay fees every quarter for PE courses that are being cut. That's unfair, and instead UCSC should be offering online options during the pandemic and protecting the program for post-pandemic times.

Make your voice heard right away — the terminations take effect Dec. 14, 2020.

Click here to open a sample email you can personalize (or copy and paste text below as you wish):

Dear Ms. Harriman, Ms. Latham, Ms. Larive:

The UCSC recreational SCUBA program teaches dozens of students to dive each year, creating an important community of witnesses to the world-class Monterey Bay ecosystem. Over 5 decades, many of these divers have continued on to be leaders in protecting the Bay as scientists, educators and environmental advocates. While there are of course other SCUBA programs, the UCSC program provides a unique extensive academic introduction to diving the Monterey Bay.

While fiscal responsibility is important, minor reductions in the hours for OPERS's 18 administrative positions and 17 coaches could easily enable the continued funding of the SCUBA and other recreation programs.

UCSC teams are important to the subset of students they serve, but the recreational courses serve the entire UCSC student population. And the SCUBA courses provide critical requisite training to students who want to pursue marine biology field work and other scientific diving pursuits.

Please protect this important academic and recreational resource for the UCSC community and immediately reverse the decision to phase out the Recreational Supervisor position overseeing the OPERS SCUBA program.

Sincerely,

...

Questions? Contact Cecilia Shin directly at cecil@ucsc.edu