The NCAA News - News & Features

I cabinet representation continues to concern women's committee

The women's athletics committee commended the Division I transition team for its attention to diversity but expressed concern about the representation of women in the Division I structure now being established.

The committee noted its support for a recommendation by the Division I Management Council Transition Team that legislation be sponsored to specify that a minimum of 14 of the 34 positions on the Management Council be allocated for each gender (14 for men or 14 for women). The women's athletics committee earlier had recommended that 40 percent of the positions on the council level and below be allocated to women.

The committee noted that the Management Council level proposed by the transition team met the 40 percent representation but that the same could not be said for the cabinet level. (The Presidents Commission did not support the Division I 40 percent recommendation).

"At the cabinet level, only 23 percent of the positions are allocated for senior woman administrators," said Patty Viverito, committee chair. "This not only falls far short of the 40 percent recommendation but also well below the 30 percent representation guaranteed when women joined the Association in 1982. The committee strongly urges sensitive attention to this matter."

The committee stressed the need for a plan for diversity, noting the divisiveness Division I encountered over initial selection of the transition team for restructuring.

In other action, the committee:

* Decided to pursue an educational and data-collection effort regarding student-athlete violence against women. While noting that the issue of student-athlete violence is multifaceted, the committee decided to focus its efforts on the specific issue of violence by male athletes against women.

The committee developed a two-part plan to gather information on activities or efforts by other groups and to target groups to educate about and address the issue. The committee recommended that the NCAA research staff gather data on this issue, model campus programs and requests for proposals regarding prevention projects.

Creating a component of the Division I athletics certification program and the Divisions II and III Institutional Self-Study Guides that addresses student-athlete violence on campus also was recommended by the committee.

The committee also suggested that the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program and campus student-athlete advisory committees are good vehicles for educating students about the issue and for dispensing preventive information. Creation of a component in the NCAA coaches professional development seminars and communication with coaches associations also were suggested.

* Reviewed evaluations of the Title IX seminars conducted by the NCAA in April in Boston and San Francisco, noting their success. Given the attendance numbers, the committee recommended two more seminars be scheduled in spring 1997, in Atlanta and Chicago.

* Recommended that the NCAA Executive Committee require data to be collected on the number of male and female recipients of funds disbursed by the special assistance fund on each campus and the amount of funds spent by gender and sport.

* Noted that funding for the NCAA National Collegiate Women's Rowing Championships had been approved.

* Discussed the NCAA affirmative action report that showed 20 percent female representation at the top three management levels of the NCAA national office staff. The committee said that national office staffing should be a model of diversity and expressed concern about the lack of female representation at the top levels.

* Reviewed the publication "Achieving Gender Equity," which will be updated and distributed in the fall, and the senior woman administrator brochure, which has been completed and is available from the national office.