SACRAMENTO, California — The Committee on Women’s Athletics voted to support a proposal in the Division III 2006-07 legislative cycle to limit the use of male practice players in women’s sports.

CWA members, who met October 10-11, decided that the proposal is a step in the direction of providing equitable practice and competitive opportunities for female student-athletes. The committee continues to be concerned that the use of male undergraduate students in practice activities with women’s teams conflicts with the committee’s mission of promoting opportunities for women and thus violates the spirit of gender equity and Title IX.

The proposal on the Division III table would allow male practice players only in practices during the traditional segment and in just one practice per week. Further, in team sports, the number of male practice players could not exceed half of the number of student-athletes required to field a starting unit in that sport.

The Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee developed the proposal, which subsequently drew support from the Division III Management and Presidents Councils.

"Our committee continues to believe that any use of male practice players is contrary to the mission of gender equity," said CWA Chair Janet Kittell. "But we commend Division III for tackling this issue and doing what it believes is the first step in addressing the matter."

The committee received updates on the male practice player issue from Divisions I and II as well.

The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet is in the process of surveying its constituents on the matter. The Division I Board of Directors asked for recommendations from the cabinet by February 2007. In Division II, the Management Council is seeking more input from student-athletes.

Division I diversity requirement

In other business, the CWA expressed diversity-related concerns about a proposed plan to revise the Division I governance structure. In an effort to create an effective substructure that provides the Board of Directors better information on which to make leadership decisions, the Management Council’s governance subcommittee is proposing various models that would change the makeup of the structure at the Council and cabinet levels.

However, the CWA is challenging the part of the proposal that amends diversity requirements to apply in the aggregate of the governance structure rather than on each body. In other words, the diversity requirements themselves would not change; however, they would apply across the board instead of to each group.

CWA members believe straying from committee-specific mandates could have unintended consequences and in the end diminish opportunities for women and minorities.

"We want to ensure diverse representation at each level of decision-making," said Kittell, associate athletics director at Indiana University, Bloomington. "While we appreciate the challenges and difficulties inherent in a broad-based review of something as complicated as revising the governance structure, we would prefer a rotational scheme in which the representation will be considered on an individual committee basis rather than in the aggregate."

The Division I Management Council saw the governance subcommittee’s proposals for the first time at its October meeting (see story, page 15). A vote on potential changes to the structure is not expected before fall 2008.

Transgender/trans-sexual issues

CWA members also talked about transgender and trans-sexual student-athletes. At issue in college sports is the challenge of developing nondiscriminatory policies for transgender and trans-sexual student-athletes while concurrently maintaining an environment in which competition is equitable.

The committee’s discussion included distinguishing between the terms "transgender" and "trans-sexual." According to Women’s Sports Foundation director Pat Griffin, "transgender" describes individuals whose gender identity does not conform to prevailing social expectations or individuals whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. "Trans-sexual" refers to someone who has transi- tioned from one sex to another and may include people who identify as neither male nor female. It can also include someone who has undergone hormone therapy, counseling or surgery.

At the NCAA level, gender classification is based up the student-athlete’s state identification documents, such as a driver’s license or voter’s registration.

But not all states have the same criteria for determining a person’s gender.

"Is the determining factor the state you were born in? The state you live in? The state you go to school in?" asked CWA Vice Chair Geri Knortz, athletics director at St. Michael’s College. "Plus, it varies by state on how you can obtain a driver’s license."

The committee agreed to continue monitoring the issue in future meetings with the goal of creating a game plan or best practices available for institutions.

"More and more individuals are discovering their sexuality early and determining not only their sexuality, but determining issues related to gender expression," Knortz said.

In other items, CWA members discussed raising awareness about current emerging sports (archery, badminton, rugby, team handball and synchronized swimming) that have not demonstrated growth during the permitted 10-year period. The CWA continues to support increased participation opportunities for women and encourages emerging-sport national governing bodies to redouble their sponsorship efforts in that regard.