The article "Trial by flyer" about NCAA travel during championships seasons that was published in the November 22 NCAA News begs the question: Why try and fix something that was not broken?

While I certainly respect the notion of exploring options to maintain "best business practices," the two-plus-decade performance for the NCAA by WorldTek is difficult to match. Most of the issues and suggestions coming from the NCAA travel focus group mentioned in the article were "standard operating procedure" of WorldTek.

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University shares the same hometown as the headquarters of WorldTek. The executives and round-the-clock staff of WorldTek have been nothing short of exceptional in providing service to our students, coaches and staff. We applaud their professionalism and thank them for their extraordinary service.

While "Trial by flyer" mentions the difficulties experienced by member institutions with the new travel service provider, I thought it was only fair to mention WorldTek's record of success. I'm sure other programs would have similar observations to share.

Thomas A. Beckett
Director of Athletics
Yale University

Roster management not the same as team tryouts

The recent series of articles in The NCAA News titled, "Gender Equity Q & A" has contained several factual misrepresentations. In the January 3, 2005, edition, for example, was a misleading comparison of the terms "roster management" to "team tryouts." These phrases describe two fundamentally different practices that are motivated by entirely dissimilar factors.

Some sports traditionally have used tryouts, which are motivated by the coach's preferences, not an administrator's needs. Many sports, however, do not have tryouts, and their coaches prefer to include as many athletes as possible on their teams. Roster management, on the other hand, is the term used to describe the numerical limits placed on squad sizes by administrators, not coaches, done exclusively to facilitate their compliance with the proportionality prong of Title IX's three-part test.

We all support the stated goal of Title IX, which is to prevent intentional discrimination based on gender. The motivation for creating Title IX in the early 1970s was to stop widespread, institutionalized gender discrimination, including quotas that limited women's access to educational opportunities, solely because of gender. Looking back, we all find those quota systems morally reprehensible. Roster management is no different: It, too, limits opportunities solely because of gender, and it, too, is morally reprehensible.

The College Sports Council applauds those who place the highest value on the educational experience that participation in intercollegiate sports offers student-athletes.

Eric Pearson
Executive Director
College Sports Council