Brown University has reinstated the varsity status of its men’s cross country and track and field teams just 12 days after it was announced that the programs had been cut.

Brown President Christina H. Paxton said in her announcement that pushback from “Brown community members” prompted the reversal. In the days since the track and field and cross country programs were cut, supporters argued that eliminating the track program would take away “one of the most racially and socioeconomically diverse teams in the Ivy League,” Save Brown Track’s website reads.

“Our students, alumni and parents took the time to share their deeply personal stories of the transformative impact that participation in track, field and cross country has had on their lives,” Paxton wrote. 

“Many noted that, through Brown’s history, these sports have been a point of entry to higher education for academically talented students who otherwise would not have had the opportunity, many of them students of color."

Track and field and cross country were originally cut as a part of The Excellence in Brown Athletics Initiative, which sought to make the school more competitive in other sports by reducing the university's varsity-supported programs from 38 to 29. With track and field/XC now back, Brown will now support 32 varsity teams.