As directed by the NCAA Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics has recommended a five-year budget plan to address gender and ethnic diversity issues within the Association.

The committee, which met June 28-30 in Breckenridge, Colorado, developed a comprehensive plan that calls for more than $1 million per year to be allocated to diversity programming over the next five years.

The plan is a collaborative effort developed in conjunction with the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee. Several initiatives within the plan are supported by both groups, while others regard issues specific to one committee or the other.

The plan addresses Association-wide staffing needs; student-athlete participation rates; championships; officiating; and marketing, licensing, promotions and broadcast services issues. The plan provides for a blend of Association-wide programming and support from member schools. For example, part of the plan -- still in the developmental phase -- calls for a matching-grant program through the NCAA to encourage institutions and conferences to add women's sports. The initiative specifically would target sports that would increase opportunities for ethnic minorities, and develop conference championships by encouraging a majority of schools in a conference to add the same sport.

The five-year plan also calls for championships initiatives, including bracket expansion in women's ice hockey and women's water polo -- and other fast-growing women's championships -- and new championships for emerging sports such as bowling, equestrian and squash.

In addition, the plan calls for increases in existing programs, such as the Women's and Ethnic Minority Enhancement Scholarship and Internship programs.

"The plan is a comprehensive effort to increase opportunities at all levels -- student-athletes, coaches and administrators -- for all women," said Cheryl L. Levick, committee chair and newly appointed director of athletics at Santa Clara University. "It incorporates many of the initiatives we've been talking about recently that have emanated from the summit for minority women and the gender and diversity audit the Association conducted two years ago.

"The allocation request will allow us to create both short-term and long-term solutions to a need the Association has long recognized, and that is to provide equitable opportunities for women in all phases of intercollegiate athletics."

The committee developed budget parameters based on the 2000-01 allocation for diversity programming, which amounted to about $1.4 million. Only $200,000 was allocated to Association-wide diversity programming issues, but about $1.2 million was devoted toward expanding championships opportunities for women.

The five-year budget plan was part of an overall strategic plan that the committee also approved during the meeting. The strategic plan supports the committee's mission of providing leadership and assistance to the membership in its efforts to provide equitable opportunities, fair treatment and respect for all women in all aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Toward that end, the committee established the following six goals to be used in developing future programming that promote inclusivity and equity for all women:

* To increase student-athlete, coaching and administrative opportunities for women;

* To assist the Association in achieving gender equity and complying with Title IX;

* To increase participation opportunities for female student-athletes;

* To increase professional advancement opportunities for women;

* To monitor progress of the initiatives included in the 1993 Gender-Equity Task Force report, the Audit Report of the NCAA Executive Committee Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity and the annual Summit on Athletics Opportunities for Minority Women; and

* To increase marketing, licensing and promotions/public relations opportunities for women.

"The five-year budget plan and the committee's strategic plan combine to establish excellent guidelines for us to accomplish those goals," Levick said.

Audit review

Critical in the development of the plan is the committee's ongoing review of the gender and diversity audit conducted two years ago that specifies areas in which the Association needs to increase efforts to achieve equity. Among those areas is gender and ethnic minority representation within the Association's governance structure, a topic that has been addressed by the Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Enhancement Program and the Division III Initiatives Task Force, and that has been undertaken by the Division I Management Council's newly created Governance Subcommittee.

That group is working to ensure that the current minimums for gender and ethnic minority representation on governance committees do not become maximums -- in other words, to find ways to develop the pool of women and minority candidates in order to increase representation on all governance groups regardless of whether those groups meet the minimum requirements.

The Committee on Women's Athletics has offered to assist the subcommittee in those efforts. The committee also noted that Divisions II and III are implementing many of their programs for 2000-01 to begin long-term efforts to increase representation within their respective governance structures.

The committee also continues to monitor the diversity efforts of the national office in its hiring practices. The committee continues to be concerned about the number of women at the top levels of leadership within the national office, particularly at the vice-president level. The group reinforced its position to support the hiring of a female senior vice-president at the national office who would be involved in significant policy, hiring and management decisions, including the areas of gender and ethnic minority diversity.

The group also supported funding a director-level marketing, licensing and promotions position at the national office to work exclusively on women's sports to develop promotions, marketing and special events.

Another area targeted in the audit is the provision of equitable, comparable and consistent training for officials in men's and women's sports. Toward that end, the committee discussed funding officiating programs in women's volleyball, men's and women's soccer, and softball, which would be under the auspices of the NCAA as they are in football, men's and women's basketball, men's ice hockey and baseball.

The committee also discussed developing and funding grant programs through officiating organizations that would target women and ethnic minorities in the upcoming years.

Woman of the Year

The committee also discussed preparations for the 2000 NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner, which will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the award. The group noted that a new effort to increase diversity within the candidate pool by allowing schools to submit two nominations as long as at least one was an ethnic minority had enjoyed moderate success as 32 schools submitted two candidates apiece.

As for next year's selection criteria, the committee voted to amend the leadership/community service part of the nomination form to include work experience. In addition, the committee added a maximum three-point value to the personal statement.

The group also addressed issues relating to the composition of the Woman of the Year selection committee, the group charged with screening all the nominations and selecting the 51 state winners and 10 national finalists. The Committee on Women's Athletics approved a set of guidelines to be used in forming the selection committee. There had been no previous set of guidelines since the selection committee is not a standing NCAA committee. The Committee on Women's Athletics, however, agreed that it was important to provide some instruction as to the formation of the selection group each year.

The guidelines state that the Committee on Women's Athletics will nominate selection committee members on an annual basis, and that the group will include representation from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and conference office representation from all three divisions.

The group will be composed of nine members who each will serve three-year terms, with three members rotating off the committee each year. The Committee on Women's Athletics emphasized that because of the large number of nominations that are submitted annually, it is important for selection committee members to develop a personal scoring system for the first year and then draw on that experience in subsequent years. Rotating one-third of the committee members annually would allow the committee to maintain consistency and also continually promote the participation of new members.

Other highlights

Committee on Women's Athletics
June 28-30/Breckenridge, Colorado

Voted not to support the concept of permitting restricted coaches in women's basketball to recruit off-campus at any one time due to cost issues and because participation in on-campus recruiting provides professional development opportunities.

Discussed issues relating to exempted contests and noted that as long as such contests are maintained by the Association, the committee supports efforts to provide an equitable number of contests for women's sports.

Reviewed letters from the membership and a request from the Women's Sports Foundation that the NCAA address the issue of homophobia in sports through educational programs and initiatives. The committee believes that the issue of homophobia is an Association-wide issue that extends beyond the scope and responsibility of the Committee on Women's Athletics and therefore asked that the Divisions I, II and III Management Councils recommend that the Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Gender and Ethnicity address the issue of homophobia as it relates to student-athletes, coaches and athletics administrators.

Noted that the Knight Commission is reconvening and stressed the need for the composition of the group to reflect a larger percentage of gender and ethnic minority diversity.

Requested a review of how Youth Education through Sports clinics might be funded through the existing NCAA Division I conference grant program.

Continued to work in conjunction with the NCAA Hall of Champions staff to develop a historical display regarding the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.