The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics has forwarded a number of recommendations to various governance groups within the Association, some based on the recent NCAA Summit on Athletics Opportunities for Minority Women.

Other recommendations are in response to the NCAA Executive Committee's request that the committee continue to monitor progress on items identified in the NCAA Gender-Equity and Diversity Audit report.

Nearly all the committee's recommendations coming out of its January 26-28 meeting pertained to its charge, as articulated by the Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Gender and Ethnicity, to develop a five-year plan to address gender equity and diversity within the Association.

After an overview of the Summit on Athletics Opportunities for Minority Women, the committee requested that the NCAA research staff develop a survey instrument or other appropriate means to collect data on minority participation by gender and by sport at the youth, high-school and college levels. The committee further recommended that the NCAA conduct a joint initiative with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to survey participation trends.

The committee also recommended to all three NCAA Management Councils that each division expand or initiate youth sport clinics -- in the model of the Youth Education through Sports (YES) clinics -- targeting girls, with an emphasis on minority participation.

The committee recommended that the Division I conference grant program be increased by $10,000 per conference ($310,000), with the funds earmarked for two such clinics for each conference per year. The committee also recommended that $220,000 be allocated to Division II conferences for such clinics, and that $200,000 be allocated for grant applications from Division III institutions and conferences to conduct such clinics.

In related matters, the Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport, the Women's Sports Foundation and the NFHS promote federal legislation to reinstate physical education on the high-school level. The committee also recommended that those groups develop and implement an active publicity campaign to enforce Title IX at the high-school level.

The committee also recommended that the appropriate financial aid bodies in Divisions I and II review existing financial aid limits and identify areas to be increased, particularly in sports that have high female minority participation.

Audit report

The Committee on Women's Athletics also reviewed the audit report and the progress made in areas identified by the report.

The committee recommended that the Association take a leadership role in achieving gender equity by equalizing the number of postseason opportunities for men and women in all NCAA divisions within the next five years. The committee reports that women have 41.18 percent of NCAA postseason opportunities.

This figure includes both NCAA championships and football bowl games. The committee stated that it included bowl games in the calculation for three reasons:

* Bowl games are postseason opportunities for male student-athletes.

* The NCAA certifies, sanctions, audits budgets and approves bowls.

* The standard used by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights in applying Title IX to college athletics programs is to compare the benefit the male or female student-athlete receives, making it the determining factor in compliance, not who is funding the benefit or who is hosting the event.

The committee recommended that 50 percent of postseason opportunities be offered for women, with a special emphasis on the expansion of championships opportunities for minority female student-athletes.

Also, the committee recommended that the equalization of postseason opportunities be achieved before any new championships opportunities for men are funded.

In another action, the committee recommended that legislation be sponsored in Division I to define a Division I conference senior woman administrator.

The committee noted that changes in the NCAA governance structure have resulted in Division I conferences taking an integral role in the Division I governance process. As a result, the committee recommends further defining the conference senior woman administrator as the highest-ranking female administrator (preferably no lower in rank than associate commissioner) involved with the conduct of a Division I conference office.

In another matter, the committee requested an update from Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA president, on the national office plan to achieve gender-equity and ethnic-minority diversity. Particularly, the committee is interested in the plan to achieve gender equity at the senior vice-president level within the national office.

Other highlights

Committee on Women's Athletics
January 26-28/Indianapolis

* Requested that Divisions II and III allocate money to fund coaching internships for women and minority women.

* Recommended that the NCAA database be expanded to include the collection of data on the ethnicity of athletics administrators and coaches.

* Supported the concept of the NCAA hiring an outside company to serve as a "head-hunter" service to assist colleges in identifying a diverse pool of qualified candidates for athletics administration and coaching positions.

* Recommended that additional funds be allocated each year to fund grant requests from outside organizations for programs benefiting ethnic minority girls and women.

* Recommended that $25,000 be allocated to fund a follow-up summit in 2000-01 to continue progress on minority female initiatives.