(Undated) -- Organizers of an effort to save recently cut Hawkeye sports programs, say they're not giving up their fight. Vickie Nauman says that's despite being told that the decision to cut men's and women's swimming & diving, men's tennis, and men's gymnastics is final. The University of Iowa Athletic Department has said the cuts are needed due to heavy pandemic-related losses in revenue.
Nauman is a Des Moines native, who swam for Iowa, while getting her business degree.
She says she was shocked when she first heard that the sports programs were being cut, since then has quickly found a growing group of alumni and parents of current student athletes who are fighting the decision.
"If we start cancelling all of these Olympic sports at the college level, that really changes the landscape for ambitious college student athletes," said Nauman.
She says there's been a groundswell of support, and she's hearing from alumni across the globe who want the sports reinstated.