May 31, 1986-MOVE TO DIVISION I-From The New York Times article: "The Price of Sports at SUNY".

Officials at UB begin planning to upgrade the athletic program to "something better benefiting the school's size-25,000 students." According to the article, "New Yorkers out to be deeply skeptical," about UB's plans for the upgrade. UB was determined the only major research university in the country without a "big-time sports program." According to UB, "Buffalo was losing out on the benefits of publicity, school spirit, alumni enthusiasm and community identification with the campus." The proposed solution to the problem-move UB from a Division III to a Division I school.

In order to make the move, UB removed a restriction from against athletic scholarships that had been in place since 1948. Although UB officials seemed enthusiastic about the move, The New York Times was much less eager to praise the change:

"Fielding winning teams means recruiting the best athletes and getting the best performances from them. Inevitably, schools are pressed to make compromises in admissions standards, course assignments and grading, the essence of the academic enterprise. Other respected institutions have learned, generally too late, how easy it is to sell one's academic soul even while adhering to the letter of every law in the N.C.A.A.'s voluminous rulebook...There are unquestioned benefits to a vigorous intercollegiate athletic program. But New Yorkers have a right to ask just what price the officials at Buffalo propose to pay for them."

The price, of course, would end up being hiring freezes in the declining departments of the College of Arts and Sciences and a book buying freeze imposed at the UB libraries last year. "The Price of Sports at SUNY" became all too evident.