According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Auburn’s athletic department lobbied for the university to save an athlete-friendly major.

In 2013, Auburn University’s curriculum review committee took up the case of a small, unpopular undergraduate major called public administration. After concluding that the major added very little to the school’s academic mission, the committee voted to eliminate it.

But according to internal documents and emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the committee’s decision was ultimately overruled by top administrators after it met significant opposition from another powerful force on campus: Auburn’s athletic department.

Confirmed to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Auburn athletic department officials offered to subsidize the public administration major during the meeting with provost Timothy Boosinger, but the provost had turned the offer down.

Gerry Gryski, who oversees the program, told the Wall Street Journal that he was unaware of the athletic department’s offer to help finance the major to keep it from being terminated.

“I’m searching for a word here,” Gryski said in the report. “It’s unbelievable. It’s incomprehensible.”

According to AL.com, records show 16 current members of the football team are majoring in public administration.