Unbelievable!!!

Maybe a new AD also?

Li'l Giant:  Ditto

What specifically are D3 conferences doing to protect against closing?

As with multiple conferences in D3 and D1, tradition and maybe common sense have been lost.

Re:  WC - OBE "game".

I participated in and coached sports.  The basic principles I was taught and followed were: athletic competition is a learning experience, strive to do your best, and never quit during a contest. (It is perfectly acceptable to quit, for a variety of reasons, after attempting to participate in any endeavor.)

The Wabash-Obe game followed only one of those guidelines:  Learning -- the players learned it's acceptable to quit striving during an event. ("Taking a knee" is, or should be, offensive to everyone at the event.)  That reflects negatively on the sport, the officials, the coaches, and the institutions; plus, it represents cheating 1) the fans of an event for which they spent time and money, and, 2) the players of an opportunity to improve their skills and enjoyment.

Question 1:  Is there an NCAA, NCAC, or other college "rule" that stipulates a college is obligated to field a team, in any sport, if the college elects not to do so, for what ever the rationale?  (I'm not aware of one.)

Question 2:  What is the future of D3 institutions given the current financial struggles for a great number of them (evident in the NCAC and other conferences), which may well reduce both athletic and academic funds? (More college closures in the near future?)

Question 3:  If one of the key performers in a music concert decided to get up and leave in the middle of a solo, what would be the audience and reviewers' reactions?

Is forcing Wabash players not to play their best fair to them and reducing play time fair to football?

I agree with sigma one regarding the relative emphasis on football at D, W, and D vs. Obe emphasis.  But endowment-per-student is a measure of resources for all students.

Oberlin endowment is just over $333K per student.  That is not really a high number compared to other colleges.  In the NCAC, Denison, Wabash, and DePauw are considerably higher.

Again, according to College Raptor, most schools have had an increase in eps recently, but not all. Denison and Wabash over 500, DPU and Obe over 400.

The "norm" seems to be 10 teams in a conference.  Currently there are 32 teams and 4 conferences in Region 4. Will conferences of 8 teams be able to find 2 OOC opponents every year? Perhaps teams from other Regions could move in, but it seems like a major realignment is likely in any case.  And there is always travel expense concerns, as previously mentioned.

In addition to sustaining athletics, there is the broader issue of overall institution viability and one of the key indicators of that is endowment-per-student (eps).  According to the website College Raptor, of the 32 institutions in this region, 14 have eps between $100K and $508K, and 18 have eps below $100K.  I don't know if $100K is a "magic number", but it doesn't provide much leeway.