The NCAA News - News and Features

January 27, 1997

Title IX Ticker -- Michigan State presents plan for Title IX compliance

Changing varsity sports, modifying roster limits and providing additional money for women's scholarships and recruiting are parts of a plan proposed by Michigan State University to bring its athletics program into compliance with Title IX.

Michigan State is proposing to add women's crew as a varsity sport and drop men's lacrosse and fencing from varsity status. The changes would be effective with the fall 1997 season.

A public hearing is scheduled for January 29, after which the athletics department will make a decision on whether to modify the plan before implementation.

Michigan State athletics director Merritt Norvell announced the plan in a news conference. He said deciding which sports to drop from varsity status was difficult.

"Probably the most difficult part is when you have to look the athlete in the eye and tell them what's going on," Norvell told The Associated Press.

Michigan State's plan is intended to bring the participation percentages to 50.7 percent male and 49.3 percent female, close enough to satisfy the Title IX requirements, according to Val Bonnette, a gender-equity consultant hired by Michigan State. Currently, 40 percent of the school's athletes are female while women compose about 52 percent of the student population.

In addition to shifting the varsity status of the three sports, the university plans to increase scholarship and recruiting money for women's sports by $400,000 to $450,000 over the next four years, according to Kathy Lindahl, associate director of athletics.

Also, roster limits will be changed for other sports, adding female athletes and reducing the number of male athletes.

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Registration information for the 1997 NCAA Title IX Seminars will be mailed during the next few weeks. The deadline for registration is March 7.

Two seminars are scheduled -- April 21 and 22 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta and May 12 and 13 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Each seminar will last 11/2 days and will have the same content as the other.

This is the third series of Title IX seminars sponsored by the NCAA education outreach staff to help member institutions provide equitable opportunities for women student-athletes.

The seminars are designed to offer information, assistance and ideas regarding compliance with Title IX guidelines for leaders and administrators working in intercollegiate athletics.

The 1997 seminars will include smaller sessions in a menu format to provide opportunities for both advanced and beginner discussions.

The seminars will include panel discussions, breakout sessions and opportunities for one-on-one conversations with directors of athletics, Office for Civil Rights representatives, lawyers and administrators who have first-hand experience in working with Title IX and gender-equity issues. Speakers and panel members will be announced in the next few weeks.

The seminars are open at no charge to chief executive officers, athletics directors, faculty athletics representatives and senior woman administrators at member institutions and to conference office administrators. The cost is $75 for students and $150 for the general public. Space is limited and preregistration is required.

More information regarding the seminars can be obtained from Janet M. Justus or Kaily Sola at the national office at 913/339-1906; fax 913-339-0028.

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A group of parents of Inola, Oklahoma, female athletes have filed suit in federal court alleging that the school district has denied female students an equal opportunity to participate in interscholastic and other school-sponsored athletics. They also claim that equal treatment and benefits must accompany an equal opportunity to participate.

Inola is the fourth Oklahoma school district to be named as a defendant in a Title IX suit in the last year.

Ray Yasser, a University of Tulsa law professor who has acted as cocounsel in the cases, told the Tulsa World that a group of concerned parents contacted him about allegedly illegal treatment in athletics opportunities for their daughters.

As in other cases, Yasser said, he advised the Inola parents first to attempt to work with the school district to resolve the problems. He said he viewed a lawsuit based on Title IX as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.

The suit alleges that Inola has discriminated against its female students in equipment and supplies, scheduling of games and practice times, travel, opportunity to receive qualified coaching, assignment and compensation of coaches, and provision of locker rooms and facilities.

The lawsuit asks that the school district fund a sufficient number of additional athletics teams for female students to provide meaningful participation opportunities that are comparable to those offered to male students at Inola.

The parents also seek damages related to the actual out-of-pocket costs incurred by them to pay for athletics equipment and supplies for their daughters that would not be incurred by parents of boys. Also, the parents are claiming damages associated with their daughters' lost opportunities to participate in athletics, their reduced opportunities to obtain college athletics scholarships, and the emotional distress resulting from their daughters' being subjected to unequal treatment and benefits in athletics on the basis of gender.

--Compiled by Sally Huggins

Title IX Ticker is a monthly feature in The NCAA News. News and information regarding Title IX and gender-equity issues can be sent to The NCAA News, Attn.: Title IX Ticker, 6201 College Boulevard, Overland Park, Kansas 66211-2422.