The NCAA News - News and Features

June 9, 1997

Scholarships are focus of new Title IX claims

BY SALLY HUGGINS
STAFF WRITER

A new front for Title IX compliance scrutiny opened June 2 when the National Women's Law Center filed sex-discrimination complaints against 25 colleges and universities based on distribution of scholarship dollars.

Citing a $5 million gap between what female student-athletes at the 25 schools received and what they are entitled to under the law, Marcia D. Greenberger, copresident of the National Women's Law Center, said the complaints were filed with the Office for Civil Rights to illustrate how far schools still need to go to provide equity in athletics.

Representatives of several of the schools took issue with the law center's claims and asserted that they actively are seeking equity in scholarships.

'Still far to go'

"The action we are taking today serves as a vivid reminder of just how far our nation still must go to secure full equality of opportunity for women under this law," Greenberger said. "We are challenging sex discrimination in the allocation of scholarships for student-athletes at 25 colleges and universities -- one for every year Title IX has been in force."

Title IX was passed June 23, 1972, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity at an institution receiving federal funds. At the time, virtually no athletics scholarships existed for women.

Until this action, the focus of Title IX enforcement activity has been the three-part test for determining if a school is in compliance with "accommodation of interests and abilities" -- participation proportionate to enrollment, history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex, or fully and effectively accommodating the underrepresented sex.

But Title IX actually includes 13 program areas that can be reviewed to determine if an institution is in compliance, including athletics scholarships.

The law requires scholarship dollars to be awarded to women and men at the same proportion as their respective rate of participation in the intercollegiate athletics program. For example, if 35 percent of a school's varsity athletes are women, then at a minimum, the school must award about the same proportion of its scholarships to women. A school could meet the scholarship requirement while not being in compliance in proportionality because the scholarships element is based on the number of female athletes.

Criteria for complaints

The center identified the 25 colleges and universities against which complaints were filed based on a number of criteria, including the size of the disparity for the average female athlete at the institution, the size of the disparity in the overall program, and the gap between female enrollment and the fewer athletics opportunities offered female students, which Greenberger said makes the disparity in female scholarship dollars even more pronounced.

The analysis was based on public information available from the schools through the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. At each of the 25 institutions, the average male athlete reportedly received in excess of $1,000 more in scholarships in one year than the average female athlete. At some schools, the average difference was $2,000 to $3,000 more, and the center said the difference at one university was more than $6,000 in one year.

"The deficit mounts over the course of a four-year college career. Imagine the huge difference this scholarship gap makes in the lives of these young women, not only while they are in school. By saddling many of them with loans, it burdens them long after college graduation," Greenberger said.

There is also an issue of some female athletes not attending college because sufficient scholarship dollars are not available, she said.

"The lack of sufficient scholarship dollars for female athletes may prevent potential recruits from ever getting a higher education in the first place," she said.

Greenberger stressed that the institutions cited were just a representative sample of the colleges and universities in violation of Title IX regarding scholarship distribution.

"Many others could have been on this list, and we urge institutions to evaluate their programs to ensure that they do not end up on a similar list in the future," she said.

Schools object to claims

Schools identified in the complaints took exception to the law center's claims. Michael Schoenfeld, vice-chancellor for media relations at Vanderbilt University, said he felt the figures were being used in a misleading way.

Brigham Young University spokesman Brent Harker said the university had been working with the Office for Civil Rights. "Our objective has always been to be in compliance," he said.

In a statement, Boston University decried the complaint as "inconsistent with the facts." The university said it had achieved appropriate participation levels and was working to increase scholarship money.

Asked how many institutions currently are in compliance in this area, Deborah L. Brake, senior counsel for the center, said she had found 13 schools that met the requirement.

The Office for Civil Rights has 135 days to evaluate the complaints. It can either dismiss them or require the schools to comply with the law. The law center is prepared to file lawsuits if no remedies are implemented.