This past weekend at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship, college wrestling teams from across the country wore “Keep CBU Wrestling” apparel in solidarity with the California Baptist University (CBU) wrestling team.
“We’re really thankful that all these other teams are able to amplify our voice when we don’t have one,” Tristan Kemp, a CBU wrestler who competed at the tournament, said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “Even at a tournament with [such] high stakes, at the end of the day, we can all kind of come together as a big wrestling community and support the sport together.”
According to Kemp, and several other teammates, CBU administrators prohibited the athletes from wearing clothing with the protest slogan while traveling or participating in the Big 12 tournament in a February 21 letter sent to the team’s head coach.
The wrestlers followed the guidelines, they said, but also brought about $500 worth of “Keep CBU Wrestling” shirts to hand out to fans, athletes and coaches before the matches started.
“That was really hard for us as a team, because we really wanted to use our platform at this last huge event, to have as many eyeballs on us as possible,” CBU wrestler Jesse Vasquez said in an interview with The Record. “Even our own opponents — guys that we were about to compete up against — before the match, they came up to us and asked us for a shirt.”
Stay up to date with the latest from The Record. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter today!
Prior to the tournament, the wrestlers had regularly worn the shirts during practices and on match days in the weeks following the announcement that the program was being cut, according to photos and videos shared with The Record by Nolan Kistler, a CBU alum heading the effort to save the program.
“Our hearts really go out to the boys, and we’re just honestly in disbelief with the ultimatum that they were given,” Kistler said.
In response to The Record’s request for comment about the university’s decision to ban the school’s athletes from wearing the shirts, a CBU spokesperson instead shared information regarding the university’s decision to cut the wrestling program.
Vice president for athletics, Micah Parker, said in a January 2 press release the cuts were necessary as the university looked to invest in other programs. An FAQ page posted by CBU also stated other reasons the program was being cut such as federal gender equity rules, a recently-approved antitrust settlement and the university’s available resources.
During the team’s final home match, and just days before the new guidelines were released, the wrestlers planned to wear specially ordered white singlets with CBU’s logo on the side in protest. Video posted to social media a week after the match showed the confrontation between the university and the wrestlers over the plan.
“I want you guys to take a few seconds now and think about it if that’s how you want to end your season,” a man, standing in the front of the room, said to the wrestlers in the video. “Or you can switch into our singlets that were paid for and provided by CBU for you to wrestle.”
The man then told the team that the university was allowing them to wear their protest shirts before and after the match, a decision that was later reversed for future matches.
The coalition against the university’s decision said it was planning protest and march around CBU on March 29 in an effort to pressure the university to continue the program.
The Riverside Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet providing Riverside County with high-quality journalism free of charge. We’re able to do this because of the generous donations of supporters like you!