There has been a loud uproar from the community since Eastern eliminated its wrestling program May 17.

More specially, it has been an uproar of anger, frustration and confusion.

The best example of this outrage would be a recently started Facebook group online titled “Save EIU Wrestling.”

Created by Eastern student, junior English major and sophomore-level wrestler, Lenny Grodoski, the group has quickly recruited a large number of followers. The last check of group members was at 885 members and the number is continually growing.

“I’m really happy with the response with the people that have supported us,” Grodoski said. Grodoski said he created the group to raise awareness about the situation and to form a place where all of the supporters could come together to attack the decision and save the wrestling program.

Grodoski does not buy the reason given by McDuffie.

“This rule is not supposed to be intended to be used towards schools like Eastern,” he said. “Or schools that have a 15-man roster, like our wrestling team.”

Grodoski further explained the NCAA Academic Progress Rates (APR) rule that only students on scholarship affect the APR rate, not all athletes on the team.

“Let’s say our team only had 5 guys on scholarship out of a 15 person squad and one of those guys fell under the GPA requirements-that would immediately put us under 900,” Grodoski said.

Eastern sophomore political science student and member of Grodoski’s group, Eric Wilber, also had a lot to say about the group and the discontinuation of the wrestling program.

“My feeling is the explanation give is incomplete,” Wilber said of the initial information he read on the Eastern Web site. “It was hard to tell what was going on.”

It was Athletic Director Rich McDuffie who made the statement that the Eastern wrestling program would be eliminated because the wrestling program for three consecutive years have failed to meet the NCAA minimum requirement score of 925 for the APR system, variedly scoring in the 800’s.

Wilber recognized from the Facebook group and the initial information release that McDuffie would be the one to contact in order to discuss the matters of the program being cut.

“I contacted McDuffie today through e-mail and he responded back,” he said.

McDuffie has been under a lot of scrutiny since the decision to cut the program was made. But McDuffie himself is not surprised by this reaction, in fact, he said he knew it was coming and expected a lot of concern.

“I’ve responded to a lot of questions and concerns from people who are generally interested in EIU wrestling,” McDuffie said.

“Some have expressed their concern with questions like, ‘Wasn’t there another alternative?’ or ‘What is the APR?’,” he said. “And I understand. There are a lot of people who are emotionally hurt over this. I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t concern.”

Jason Hall, assistant athletics director of compliance and academics services, said he is not surprised that the McDuffie has been in the hot seat.

“Anytime something like this happens, the person in charge is going to take the brunt of the anger and frustration,” he said.

Hall himself said he was not happy to see wrestling be cut.

“I never like to see programs be cut, no one does,” Hall said, “But I’ll support the decision of the administration.”

Gail Richard, from the Communication Disorders & Sciences Department

Human Services sees both sides of the argument.

“I think it’s always disappointing to lose a program,” Richard said. “But what is most important to me is that they will honor the scholarships given to those students and we’re doing that. Those students will certainly have the opportunity to get an academic degree here.”

Richard said that she feels as disappointing as losing the program is that in the long run it is a fiscally responsible decision.

She thinks the decision has been so controversial because she said she thinks many people have a personal connection to the program and that it also could deal with the fact that some of those do not understand the APR system.

“I think if people had been following APR, wrestling has been in deficient for some time now,” she said. “So the writing is on the walls.”

Wilber said he is beginning to understand what happened more now, but he is hopeful that the Facebook group may still be of some help.

“I think the group could have an impact, but I don’t think the university has any other choice,” Wilber said.

But Grodoski is more optimistic; he said he feels the support the group is getting is becoming formidable. But finds comfort in that the group is serving its purpose: raising awareness. And he hopes that this raise in awareness will cause people to see his argument.

“They wanted an excuse to cut the program and they used the APR rule to do so,” he said. “It was the easiest way they could do so.”