July 6, 2012

Dear Terrier Nation,

There have been many exciting things happening at Boston University these past few months. We recently secured our seventh consecutive America East's Commissioner's Cup as the best program in the league, hired our first men's lacrosse head coach and our first women's lightweight rowing head coach, and made an announcement of joining the Patriot League starting with the 2013-14 academic year. Progress continues as we strengthen Terrier Athletics.

Unfortunately with all of these great advances comes some disappointing news. Many of you may have already read that the presidents of America East Conference schools have used their discretion to bar BU teams from participating in this coming season's America East Conference championship events. Our final season, after 33 years of exemplary participation, will be played with no conference championship opportunities for our student-athletes.

We are extremely disappointed in this decision, especially since it harshly impacts our student-athletes. I would imagine you feel the same way and wish that this could be overturned. In the past week we made our case to the America East Conference asking for reconsideration, but to no avail.

We remain steadfastly by our student-athletes throughout this process and, despite this setback, will face this challenge head on. Our teams remain eligible for regular season championships and awards, as well as postseason competition through NCAA at-large bids and other tournament opportunities. I believe we are well positioned in many sports for this to occur and look forward to a memorable year for BU sports.

We appreciate your continued support. Go BU!

Sincerely,

Mike Lynch
Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics