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NCAA News Archive - 2006
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Pennsylvania State University
When I was in high school in the late 1950s in a small town amid the mountains in western Pennsylvania, we had a football team in the fall, basketball and wrestling teams in the winter, and, occasionally, baseball in the spring. All were for the boys. The only athletics-related options for girls were majorette, cheerleader, or band or pep club member.
Of course, that was more than a decade before the passage of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in federally funded education programs. A school can comply by meeting at least one prong of the three-part test designed by the U.S. Department of Education.
Unfortunately, the DOE has made a major change that threatens to turn Title IX into a toothless paper tiger. Under the new clarification, a school may comply merely by electronically surveying female students about their interest and ability to play additional sports. Further, the school may interpret nonresponses as lack of interest. That system is incredibly flawed since response to surveys is notoriously low — particularly to e-mail surveys and especially by college students.
It’s a move in the wrong direction that could seriously impede 30 years of progress for women’s and girls’ sports, and it is especially true now that women compose 57 percent of college students but receive only 43 percent of college athletics opportunities. The policy clarification by the DOE is even more incredible in light of a recent study by the Women’s Law Project of Philadelphia concluding that "Pennsylvania’s coeducational colleges...are shortchanging female athletes."
Based on that finding and my own studies, the DOE actually needs to move in the other direction.
A problem with the DOE’s three-part test is that the "history and continuing practice" and "effectively accommodating" criteria are subjective, arguable and difficult to quantify. The test also is unrealistic because it doesn’t directly factor in the amount of money allocated to women’s sports. If schools want to talk the talk about women’s sports, they simply have to walk the walk — and the only way to do that is to commit money.
I’d rather a new test be developed that is measurable, realistic and truly reflects a school’s commitment to women’s sports. The proposed criteria would be participation, scholarships, operating expenses, recruiting budget and coaching salaries. The resulting "Title IX Index" would be the sum total of the college’s score on the five criteria. On each criteria, a standard or goal is established and the school receives a +/- score.
Participation means the percentage of female athletes should be proportional to the percentage of female students. Scholarship means the schools must award the same proportion of aid to female athletes as there are women in varsity sports. The goal on the Title IX Index is based on the "same proportion" principle, so it would be +/-0.0.
Operating expenses are based on the percentage of the athletics budget allocated to women’s teams. The same applies to coaches’ salaries and the recruiting budget. The goal of the Title IX Index for each criteria has been set at 40 percent, based on the fact that the median operating expense for women’s sports for all Division I teams was 38 percent in 2003-04.
Using this model, only two colleges of the 103 in the 10 Division I-A conferences I studied finished with a positive score. Additionally, only 20 schools had a score higher than -20. These numbers certainly indicate the need for a new mandate for Title IX.
I would even advocate that the NCAA establish incentives and disincentives — perhaps scholarship allocations, for example — for Title IX compliance, much like the Association has done with academic reform.
It is time to put some teeth in the gender-equity tiger.
Charles L. Kennedy is a senior instructor of political science at Pennsylvania State University.
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