The men’s rugby team won the East Penn Rugby Union (EPRU) Division II Championship in November, defeating Saint Joseph’s University 33-5. The Lions celebrated this astounding victory just two years after claiming Division II status.

Head Coach Jason Horowitz is proud of his team’s accomplishment and commended his players on their hard work and devotion to the sport. “The coaches do their job during the week, the players do their job on Saturdays,” he said. “It’s their long hours and dedication that pays off on game days.”

Winning the EPRU DII Championship is not at all surprising to Horowitz, given how much the Albright men’s rugby program has grown. “I think the thing that keeps us going is not only the dedication of the players … but also that of the administration,” he said.

“Rugby is one of the fastest growing sports in the country—my goal is to continue to grow it.”

Since becoming head coach of Albright rugby in spring 2002, Horowitz has successfully rejuvenated the program, giving it leadership and a new, focused direction.

Much of the team’s success is due to Horowitz’s “three-legged stool” approach: coach, academic support and institutional support.

All three legs are necessary for the team to succeed. “Pull one leg out and it falls apart,” he said.

Christian Hamann, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the team’s academic advisor, serves as liaison between the coach and the College. “My goal is to promote academic excellence to help the students realize their potential off the field,” he said. “Extracurricular implies that the curricular is paramount.”

Winning the championship is a “capstone experience for the graduating seniors who went through all phases of [the team’s] development,” including Horowitz’s arrival, Hamann added.

Looking ahead, Horowitz said, “Winning the EPRU Division II championship gave Albright the number one seed to the mid-Atlantic quarter finals.” Albright will host Virginia Military Institute in Shirk Stadium on March 25.

When the U.S. Department of Education recently distributed official FY 2003 cohort default rate notification, Albright learned that not only is the College’s 1.9 percent rate the lowest Albright has obtained in the 11 years that the U.S. Department of Education has reported these rates, but it is significantly lower than the national average of 4.5 percent.

The cohort default rate is determined by the number of loans defaulting during a given period. That number is then divided by the number of loans that entered repayment during that period. The resulting ratio is the institution’s default rate.

Why are cohort default rates important? Defaulted federal student loans cost taxpayers money. Cohort default rate sanctions and benefits provide an incentive to schools to work with their borrowers to reduce default. Sanctions also can prevent a school with a high percentage of defaulters from continuing to participate in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan), and Federal Pell Grant programs. As a result, cohort default rates help save taxpayers money.

Rain may have been falling, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of those who returned to campus for  Homecoming Weekend in October. Reunions were held for the Classes of 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, the Kappa Epsilon Phi fraternity and the 13th Street Gang.

In addition, R. Norman Jowitt ’38, R. Michael Eckenroth ’68 and Barbara M. (Stubenrauch) Lightner ’84 were inducted into the Albright College Hall of Fame. The 1960 football team, the only unbeaten and untied team in Albright’s history, was also honored.