National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

August 3, 1998

Association wide -- Committee examines programs for Title IX compliance

The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics reviewed specific areas of the NCAA with equity in mind during its July 15-17 meeting in Sausalito, California.

In light of the Smith v. NCAA case, in which the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NCAA itself is subject to Title IX in that jurisdiction, the committee discussed identifying areas in which the Association may need to reexamine its programs and policies with an eye toward Title IX compliance.

"We thought we'd use this opportunity to review programs just to make sure we're not vulnerable in any area," said committee chair Patty Viverito, commissioner of the Gateway Football Conference and senior associate commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference.

"The NCAA, really going back to the Gender-Equity Task Force, has been quite proactive is this area," Viverito said. "But there are many programs that have not been looked at since that time. We're not throwing stones -- we're just raising questions."

Viverito noted that the committee intends to provide a forum for those who have equity concerns to see them resolved within the Association rather than in court.

"We see this as a proactive, preventive policy," she said. "We'd like to offer a mechanism to respond to concerns and give people a fair hearing in our own system without having them resort to lawsuits. It's a good-faith effort to do the right thing."

Viverito also pointed out that the committee will continue to review these types of gender-equity issues within the Association.

"It's going to be a continuing agenda item for the Committee on Women's Athletics, and we invite the membership to bring items to our attention," she said.

The committee reviewed several areas at this meeting, including promotions and marketing, NCAA-sponsored officiating clinics, NCAA championships and bracket size, and special events and exempted events. Out of this review came several recommendations.

The committee recommended that the corporate partner program be reexamined to see how it fits in with NCAA championships, especially women's championships.

The committee also recommended that the NCAA staff review its documents, policies and procedures to ensure that women's sports are marketed in a favorable manner.

The committee expressed disappointment in regard to efforts made to date marketing NCAA women's sports, and the committee recommended that the NCAA staff review administrative elements in marketing initiatives, specifically with regard to the highly successful "Take a Girl to the Game" promotion, which was discontinued and replaced by the "Take a Kid to the Game" promotion focusing on football.

The committee also recommended further review of postseason championship opportunities for women, but the committee plans to wait until after current championships expansion proposals make their way through the governance structure.

"We plan to review the entire championships program in October," Viverito said. "We're waiting until then because the championships opportunities offered may change dramatically between now and then."

The committee reviewed the special events and exempted events criteria and recommended that the Exempted Contests Subcommittee review their criteria and make amendments where necessary.

"The criteria themselves are quite gender neutral, but their impact has been gender inequitable," Viverito said, noting that the men's sports found it much easier to meet the required sponsorship criteria, resulting in a dramatic increase of men's exempted events and few women's exempted events.

The committee also recommended that the Division I Strategic Planning Cabinet, as well as the Championships/Competition Cabinet, review criteria indicated in the "Officiating--Improvement Program" document and develop policies to apply the program equitably to women's sports. The committee noted that, at a minimum, NCAA officiating clinics should be offered to the women's sports that have indicated an interest in such a program, such as volleyball and softball.

In another action, the committee recommended that legislation be sponsored to identify the sport of equestrian as an emerging sport for women.

Previously the committee had reviewed the issue and requested additional documentation. Those materials were provided and the committee confirmed that the established emerging sport guideline criteria had been met.

The committee also noted that 18 institutions now sponsor competition in women's equestrian.

The committee also responded to a resolution sponsored by the American Council of Education (ACE).

Prompted by possible government intervention regarding the dropping of college sport teams, ACE has put forth a resolution in which institutions are urged to place the welfare of the student-athlete at the center of their decision-making process, particularly in the event that a discontinuation of a particular sport becomes necessary.

The ACE resolution encourages institutions to examine alternatives to dropping sports.

However, if a sport is dropped, ACE urges the institutions to provide appropriate notice to the sport team members and campus community, maintain scholarship assistance for the duration of the team members' eligibility and assist students in the transfer process.

In light of the above measures, which are common practice within the NCAA membership, the committee voted to support the resolution.

Other actions

In other actions, the committee:

  • Noted that NCAA disability insurance opportunities are now available to elite women athletes. Previously, the program had been restricted to men.

  • Noted that the revised NCAA Nondiscrimination Policy the committee had previously recommended had been acted upon by the three divisions. The Division I Strategic Planning Cabinet has rejected the proposed changes; the Division II Management Council and Presidents Council expect to review the proposal at their next meetings; and the Division III Management Council had asked for legal counsel review. Elsa Kircher Cole, NCAA general counsel, has provided a legal opinion on the proposed changes. The opinion states in part, "The proposed policy would only obligate NCAA members not to discriminate in their Association activities. It would not require members to adhere to the principle in their campus' governance, education programs, activities or employment policies."

  • Noted that the Division II and Division III memberships had expressed interest in more clearly defining the role of the senior woman administrator (SWA) and perhaps mandating the position. The committee recommended that legislation be sponsored and adopted in all three division mandating the SWA position.

  • Reviewed the role and responsibilities of student-athlete representatives on the committee and recommended: (1) that a mentor be assigned to new student-athlete representatives and that an orientation program be developed to assist new members; (2) that the length of service be reviewed and perhaps decreased from four years to two to provide opportunities to more student-athletes; and (3) that three students be appointed instead of two to permit representation from each division simultaneously.

  • Endorsed a project by Jane Gottesman and Jane Glickman regarding the creation of a Women in Sport exhibit. The committee also developed an advisory group to provide assistance with the exhibit.