BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University was among a group of six Great Northwest Athletic Conference institutions that have elected to not play a conference men's or women's basketball season in 2020-21.
 
The GNAC announced Friday from its headquarters in Portland, Oregon that it plans to move forward with modified conference-only men's and women's basketball schedules beginning in January, with four schools voting to participate.
 
WWU president Sabah Randhawa is a member of the CEO Board in the 10-member conference that voted Friday to either opt out of the basketball or continue with a modified conference-only schedule. The GNAC has a footprint that includes five states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and a province (British Columbia).
 
Six institutions decided they will not participate in the conference basketball season for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Institutions not competing in the GNAC season are WWU, Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Montana State Billings, Simon Fraser and Western Oregon. Four schools – Alaska Fairbanks, Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific – have indicated that they will participate in the upcoming season.
 
"This was a very difficult decision, but one that centered around health and safety of our student-athletes and our WWU campus community," said Randhawa. "The pandemic has created a lot of challenges for our campus community, and we have worked together to ensure the safety of everyone involved. I understand the disappointment our student-athletes and coaches must be feeling as a result of the opt-out decision. We are missing our student-athletes in action, the energy, work ethic, teamwork, and community that athletic competition brings to our university. I am proud of the great success our student-athletes have had in the classroom and in competition, and we look forward to when we can see the Vikings back in competition safely."
 
Teams not participating in the GNAC season will be allowed institutional autonomy to conduct countable athletically-related activities within NCAA regulations. Those teams will be allowed to seek non-conference competition within applicable health guidelines, including games against other GNAC institutions that will not compete in the conference season. Those competitions may not begin before Jan. 7.
 
"This was a very tough decision that our University was faced with, but one that came down to the health and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, campus community, and the greater Bellingham community," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "These are unprecedented times, with many challenges, and while it is tough to share this information today, we understand the severity of the ongoing situation. My heart goes out to all the student-athletes and coaches, especially the seniors, where this has now affected the end of their NCAA Tournament dreams last year and now the 2020-21 season."
 
The GNAC Management Council and CEO Board continues to look at the feasibility of the conference's spring seasons for baseball, softball, outdoor track and field, men's and women's golf and women's rowing; and the suspended fall seasons for cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball.
 
"The GNAC's reformatted schedule has been designed to reduce travel, promote health and safety, and foster conditions that enable student-athletes to return to intercollegiate competition safely," said GNAC commissioner Dave Haglund. "We support each conference member and the decisions that have been made regarding the upcoming basketball season. As it has done since the onset of the pandemic, the GNAC leadership will continue to evaluate and monitor conditions related to the coronavirus and make decisions as warranted."
  The Great Northwest Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II conference that sponsors 17 sports across the fall, winter and spring championship seasons. The conference features 10 universities in a footprint that includes five states (Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana) and one province (British Columbia). Member schools include the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK), University of Alaska Anchorage (Anchorage, AK), Central Washington University (Ellensburg, WA), Montana State University Billings (Billings, MT), Northwest Nazarene University (Nampa, ID), Saint Martin's University (Lacey, WA), Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA), Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC), Western Oregon University (Monmouth, OR) and Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA). The GNAC has established itself as one of the top NCAA Division II athletic conferences in the nation during its 19-year history, which was founded in July 2001.
  Western Washington University is a four-year public institution located in Bellingham, Washington, featuring over 300 student-athletes that compete for 15 intercollegiate athletic teams at the NCAA Division II level and primarily in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WWU Athletics has finished in the top 50 in the NCAA II Learfield Directors' Cup standings in 15 of the past 16 years, and in the top 20 in eight of the last 12 years (no award in 2019-20). WWU's programs have won 11 team national championships, most recently the 2016 women's soccer team and the 2017 women's rowing team. Outside of competition. WWU's student-athletes have compiled an academic success rate near 90%, earning the NCAA's President's Award for Academic Excellence two of the last three years. 
 
During the shortened 2019-20 sports season, WWU had eight of nine possible teams represented in the NCAA Championships. Seven of those teams won Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, including going 5-for-5 during the fall sports season. In addition to the great success in competition, a record 111 student-athletes earned GNAC Academic All-Conference honors and 30 received the prestigious GNAC FAR Awards for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.85. In competition, 64 student-athletes earned GNAC All-Conference honors and 12 Vikings achieved All-America status. 
  For more information on WWU's 15 varsity sports programs, visit WWUVikings.com. Fans and alumni can also track all the teams via social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat at @WWUAthletics.