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Institutions must make gender-equity data available

The gender-equity information is required by the federal Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. It must be available to students, potential students and the public.

The NCAA staff has received questions from several member institutions about their responsibilities in making the gender-equity information available -- such as where it should be kept, whether they are required to make a copy and mail it on request, and whether they can charge a nominal fee to cover the costs of copying and mailing the report.

According to the regulations, the act "requires only that the report be available on request. To allow flexibility in complying with this statutory requirement, the Secretary (of Education) will not regulate where the report be made available.

"However, the Secretary believes that the intent of the statute is for institutions to make the annual reports easily accessible, and adds a regulatory requirement to that effect.

"The Secretary believes that an institution would fulfill this obligation if, for example, it made copies of this report available in such places as intercollegiate athletics offices, admissions offices and libraries. An institution may also fulfill this obligation by electronic means, for example, by providing a copy to every student in his or her electronic mailbox."

Institutions are not required to submit the gender-equity report to the Department of Education, but the department can request it during a program review or compliance audit.

The regulations allow an institution to charge the general public a fee for copies of the report, but an institution cannot charge such a fee to students, potential students, parents or coaches.

"The Secretary emphasizes that charging such a fee to students, potential students, parents or coaches would violate the intent of the statute," the regulations state. "However, upon reviewing the comments and the statute, the Secretary agrees that the statute does not prohibit institutions from charging the general public (persons other than those listed above) a fee to cover copying expenses only."

The NCAA Council has mandated that nearly identical data be collected from member institutions for the NCAA's periodic study of gender equity.

The Association's research staff has developed a form to make it simpler for institutions to satisfy both the federal and NCAA requirements. Institutions were to have completed and returned the form to the national office by October 1 -- the deadline for making the information available at institutions.

The form consisted of eight worksheets, which were provided solely for institutional use in collecting data on a sport-by-sport basis, compiling it in aggregate form and transferring the data to tables provided by the NCAA for meeting the reporting requirements of the gender-equity disclosure act. The worksheets are not required to be disclosed to the public in sport-by-sport format.

Instead, institutions may total and transfer data to the appropriate table for reporting in aggregate form to the public.

However, if an institution has not already done so, the data should be forwarded to the NCAA research staff as part of the NCAA's gender-equity survey. The NCAA will report results in aggregate form; individual institutions will not be identified.

Individuals seeking information under the gender-equity disclosure act must request the information from an institution. The NCAA cannot release such information.

Results of the NCAA gender-equity study, which is scheduled to be repeated every five years, will be published in the spring. The first NCAA study, published in March 1992, analyzed expenditures and opportunities for women's and men's athletics program at schools in each of the NCAA's membership divisions.

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A public-service announcement featuring high-profile college football student-athletes is being shown in football stadiums across the country this fall in a campaign to discourage men from engaging in or tolerating relationship violence.

Developed by Liz Claiborne, Inc., in partnership with Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, the PSA is being distributed by the College Football Association.

The PSA is set at a crowded football stadium. Various messages flash on the stadium scoreboard such as "license plate 123 LMH, you left your lights on" and "Happy 8th Birthday, Jimmy." Suddenly the stadium becomes eerily silent as fans and players look up at a new message: "Joe Smith, section 329, seat 4, beat up his girlfriend last night." Close-ups of fans and players looking at the scoreboard in shock and disgust appear.

An athlete on the field then takes off his helmet and addresses the camera. "If you think hitting your girlfriend makes you a big man, you won't mind if we let 70,000 people see just how big you are."

A voice-over intones, "Every 12 seconds a woman in this country is abused. Isn't it time to speak out? Get involved, end relationship violence. Love is not abuse."

The 30-second PSA has been shown on giant in-stadium replay screens during Big 12, Big East, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conference football games in October, which is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Liz Claiborne produced four versions of the PSA, featuring Matt Russell, linebacker at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Chad Johnston, quarterback at West Virginia University; Paul Beckwith, center at the University of South Carolina, Columbia; and James Hamilton, linebacker at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

"By using athletes as icons of masculinity, we hope to reposition men's violence against women as a men's issue and point out the need for male leadership in an area where up to now there has been very little male initiative," said Jackson Katz, director of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Project at Northeastern.

Jerome A. Chazen, chairman emeritus of Liz Claiborne, said the PSA portrays men and women as bystanders intolerant of relationship violence and uses an entire stadium to represent all of society.

"We want to make it clear that everyone on the sidelines -- men and women -- can and should actively help to end this problem by making it socially unacceptable," Chazen said.

Richard Lapchick, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society, said 77 athletes were accused of some form of gender violence in 1995. Three million women were battered and one million raped during that year.

"It's not a sport problem. It's a cultural problem," he said.

Robin Scheer-Ettinger, Liz Claiborne's director of marketing, told the Denver Post that use of football student-athletes in the campaign is intended to increase the impact of the PSA. Claiborne is targeting collegians who are just beginning to develop adult relationships.

"If they can understand how a relationship can become abusive, what the signs are, then hopefully they can get the help they need, encourage friends to get help or stand up if they see it happening with someone they know.

"That's the power of someone like Matt Russell. He can have that impact. When these people stand up and say this is not cool, hopefully we can change the culture, because that's ultimately what has to happen."

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Efforts to ensure that men and women share equally in intercollegiate athletics opportunities at Western Carolina University received a $210,000 boost October 12 as the university announced the establishment of an endowment for gender equity in athletics.

Funds for the endowment are being provided by the Development Foundation of Western Carolina University, using proceeds from the sale of land donated to Western Carolina specifically for the support of the school's athletics program.

"Participation in intercollegiate athletics is a significant component of many students' university experience and often plays an important role in the development of character and leadership," said John W. Bardo, Western Carolina chancellor.

"We are committed to providing equal athletics opportunities for men and women at WCU. This endowment is a strong step in the right direction."

The endowment proceeds are dedicated solely to promoting gender equity in intercollegiate athletics and will not be used to replace existing scholarships or normally budgeted athletics funds. The fund will be managed by the Western Carolina Development Foundation board of directors in conformance with the athletics department's recently developed gender equity plan.

-- Compiled by Sally Huggins

Title IX Ticker is a monthly feature in The NCAA News. News and information regarding Title IX and gender-equity issues can be sent to The NCAA News, Attn.: Title IX Ticker, 6201 College Boulevard, Overland Park, Kansas 66211-2422.