Is it all over for CSU wrestling? Not quite. Although it may have appeared as though support was flagging amidst a stagnating GoFundMe and the lack of movement from the administration, things have taken yet another turn. After the wrestling team completed what might be their last home dual, an influential figure made his thoughts known. And if anyone can save the program, surely a sitting senator can, right?

The decision to close the wrestling program at Cleveland State University has received heavy scrutiny, and now, U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno has entered the picture, calling for explanations. In an acerbic letter to the head of the university, Laura Bloomberg, Moreno expressed confusion about how a fiscally sound, academic achiever, and historically accomplished program could be discontinued. This decision, in a state in which wrestling reigns, leaves many in the community flabbergasted and enraged.

Moreno’s frustration comes in the university’s 2023 Steering Committee report, in which the wrestling program, along with just six other athletics programs, was in the profit-making group, reporting a profit of $100,000. The university, despite this, put the program in the group to be cut, along with softball and women’s golf, to close the university’s $40 million deficit by 2029. It questions the university’s decision to cut a profit-making program in the face of the university’s fiscal struggles.

Beyond the funds, the CSU wrestling team also holds the second-highest Division I wrestling GPA, only behind Harvard. The city will also host the 2026 NCAA Championships, something the city anticipates bringing in an economic impact of $20 million. Cutting the wrestling program at this juncture also appears to fly in the face of the fiscal health and academic record of the university. Yet, something other than money lies at the bottom of the scandal.

Student fees and lack of transparency feed the fire

One of the most controversial elements in the decision by CSU involved the athletics fee policy shift. In 2015, students at CSU voted to raise the tuition fees, particularly to support wrestling and establish a women’s team. The referendum officially linked the fee to the upkeep of the wrestling program so that it could remain in the Division I lineup at CSU. Yet, in a stealthy and inexplicable shift, the university revised the policy to refer to the fee in terms of general athletics and not wrestling, in particular.

This lack of openness has created pushback from students, alums, and former student government officials, who feel the university is reversing its promise to students in 2015. A February 4, 2025, letter from the former student government officials to the university invoked the 2015 student body vote to maintain wrestling, so this administrative decision to end the program runs in opposition to student-supported decisions.

The move also raises possible legal and ethical issues insofar as it implies the university reallocated the funds in violation of the original decision. This ranks among the concerns most expressed by Moreno, who demands transparency about how wrestling-allocated funds are being reallocated. If the decision by CSU truly relied on money, then how did the student-supported funds fail to cover the program’s upkeep?

With a U.S. senator involved, the heat is put on CSU to provide explanations. Alumni and students are calling for explanations, and the uproar about the hike in the athletic fee could see the university suffer an even worse fallout. The university could end up losing public trust and, worse, face lawsuits regarding the use of student funds if the explanations are not furnished. For now, the fight to maintain the Cleveland State wrestling team continues. The university’s administrators, meanwhile, are faced with the question of upholding the decision and ignoring the demands to be transparent or reconsidering and retreating in the face of resistance.