By Tara Dooley, Staff Reporter
Lehman College is considering eliminating its physical education department, a move that could jeopardize a sports training program for about 175 Bronx Special Olympians, according to faculty members.
"We as a department are being knocked out," said Davis Roberts, a physical education professor and founder of the Lehman Special Olympic Training Program, a sports project for the mentally retarded. "What they are saying is that we are expendable."
The department teaches 120 graduate and undergraduate students, who will have to transfer to another City University school or switch majors if phys ed is eliminated, said Joseph DiGennaro, department chairman.
About 30 students, including those who are not majors, also participate in a three-credit course on coaching mentally retarded athletes, said Roberts, who started the class 18 years ago. The students spend Monday evenings supervising the athletes in sports as varied as swimming, basketball, hockey and even beanbag tossing.
Some of the athletes come to the program from group homes; others arrive weekly with their parents, he said. And many of them compete in sporting events sponsored by the Bronx Special Olympics.
"Without it, he'll be home sitting watching TV in a chair," said Millie Rodriguez of her 29-year-old son Michael, who has cerebral palsy.
Daniel Shure, a spokesman for the college, said the school has not made any final decisions about cuts and will not do so until state and city budgets are announced.
DiGennaro, however, said he was told April 3 the college planned to abolish the physical education department. Roberts also said he was advised to start a job search.
The Lehman College program is one of eight Special Olympics training clubs in the borough, said Phyllis Silverman, volunteer head coach at the Lehman program, where her son Michael trains. The Monday night practices at the college serve many more athletes than the others and it is the only one that offers swimming. Cardinal Hayes High School has the second-largest program and can accommodate about 75 athletes.
Although many of the athletes participate in more than one of the clubs, most of the lower-skilled participants come to Lehman, Silverman said.
But it's not just the athletes who benefit from the program, said Manuel Lopez, 39, a phys ed major.
"I get a thrill of accomplishment, a satisfaction that I am giving back to the community," he said. "And I get work experience."
Lopez, who graduates in June, began his studies at Lehman planning to become an elementary school physical education teacher. But after taking the course, Lopez switched to special education.
"Once I started working with them, I found an area I really love and I changed my idea," he said.
The college would consider continuing to host the Special Olympics in its gym, said Shure. But Ira Pers, director of the Bronx Special Olympics, said it would be difficult to carry out the current program without the help of the students and their professor.
"The program could continue, but our problem is to find someone to run it," he said.