10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 8, 1996

The largest story out of the Athletic Department this year might not be the contract with Nike, Gary Moeller's
resignation or the restructuring of the NCAA. The element that might have the most impact on college athletics is...

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TITLE IX

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By Andy Knudsen
Daily Sports Writer
he tides will be turning on Ann
Arbor's Argo Pond next fall
when the Michigan women's
crew team begins rowing at
the varsity level.
Sitting on the same pond
will be the men's club crew team. Since they
must pay theirown expenses, they likely will
be envious of the letter jackets, meal stipends
and new equipment received by their female
counterparts.
It's not that the men's crew team missed the
boat on some get-varsity-quick scheme, it's
that the boat was not going in their direction.
Title IX is the name of the ship making waves on Argo Pond,
and its namesake is the 1972 law that requires equal opportunity
for "any education program or activity receiving federal finan-
cial assistance."
Collegiate athletic departments began taking gender equity
seriously when Brown University lost a lawsuit in 1992 for
downgrading women's volleyball and gymnastics from varsity
to club sports.- I
Shortly thereafter, Michigan dedicated itself not only to
meetingthe general national standards-a 60 to40 percent ratio
of scholarship money for men and women, respectively - but
to set new precedents.
"We're a leader onthe field, and we can do it in this area also,"
said Ragine Dvorak, an administrative assistant in the Michigan
Athletic Department.
"My understanding is that there is a commitment (for the
ratio) to mirror the student population," added women's crew
coach Mark Rothstein.
And as ifthey were running a telethon, Michigan will always
let it be known how close they are to their goals.
There are currently 11 varsity sports for both genders, with 58
percent of the athletes being male and 42 percent being female.
With the addition of women's crew next fall, the Athletic
Department estimates the gap narrowing to 53 percent and 47
percent, respectively. This would match the student ratio from
the 1993-94 fall semester.
The 20 scholarships allotted for women's crew will bring the
number of available female athletic scholarships to 134, which
is 43.3 percent of the all Michigan scholarships.
On the men's side, 175.4 scholarships are available, with 85
of them devoted to football.
An Equal Playing Field
Dvorak says there is more to gender equity at Michigan
than dry statistics.

"It's not just participation numbers," she said. "We
want everything to be equitable, from facilities to travel-
ing opportunities."
Women's volleyball coach Greg Giovanazzi said in his four
years as a Wolverine head coach he has seen rapid improvement
in the Athletic Department's policies concerning Title IX.

few males that benefits from gender equity."
The Men's Story
There are a limited number of women's sports with the
interest level and competitive level necessary to become
varsity sports. Consequently, there is relatively no chance
for the expansion of any men's sports in the near future
due to the need to maintain the delicate balance between
genders.
Particularly stinging from these policies at Michigan
are tin men's crew and soccer teams, where players have
watched their friends on the equivalent female teams get
promoted to varsity standing in the past two years.
"Human instinct is to be jealous," said Greg Hartsuff,
coach of the men's club crew team. "You ask yourself,
'Why them and not me?"'
Both teams feel it would be easy to share the new
facilities created for their female counterparts, but the

men's soccer team has not

ITLE.
TLIll

been able to use the women's
new soccer field and Hartsuff
sees a half-empty glass on
the prospects of accessing
any new boathouse facilities.
"The University's attitude
is an all or nothing philoso-
phy," Hartsuff said. "Either
you're in the Athletic De-
partment and fully funded or
you get nothing."

tive in athletics than women and that gender equity goes
against the principle of a free society.
"This law is telling us that regardless if the people of the
U.S. like it or not, men and women should participate
equally," he explained.
These equity policies have become a double-edged
sword for Hartsuff personally.
"The sport of rowing is being helped" by the increased
visibility the women's team should receive, he said, but
"men's sports in general are being hurt."
including the Gridiron
Hartsuff is one of many people nationwide who do not
think it is fair for football to be included in the mix of Title
IX statistics since the number of participants and scholar-
ships are disproportionately high and there is no female
equivalent.
"There is no women's football and nothing saying they
couldn't start one," he said. "But I don't think many
women want to play football."
Ignoring football in the count of men's scholarshi
would leave only 90.4 scholarships available to males at
Michigan, 43.6 less than women will have next year.
By the standards of gender equity, opportunities for
non-football playing male athletes are as limited as front-
row seats at a Chicago Bulls game - you're awfully lucky
if you can get one.
"If I were a young male athlete playing volleyball or
water polo, I'd be concerned about not being able to
compete at the collegiate varsity level," Giovanazzi said.
But the number of football scholarships has already
been reduced over the years, and being the prime mono
maker on campus (along with men's basketball), it needs
to stay competitive for the Athletic Department to remain
in the black economically.
Buying Everyone a Round
Football and basketball's gate receipts and
payouts from the conference, TV, bowls and
the NCAA added up to 65 percent of the
department's $33 million in operating rev-
enues for 1994-95.
Other gate receipts accounted for only 2
percent of the intake.
Although the two major revenue sports essen-
tially pave the way for the existence of all women's
and most other men's sports, Dvorak says the Athletic
Department does not think of it that way.
"All that money comes back into the Athletic Depart-
ment coffers," she said. "It's not like that's football's or
basketball's money."
Dvorak continued to say it would probably be another
20 years before the gap between men's and womel
revenues narrowed.
As in dating, the men may have to pay for the women for
awhile and teams of men will get shot down in thir
attempted advances. But the hope is eventually men's and
women's sports will become a Dutch treat.

in The Black
Michigan's Athletic Department raked in a profit of
about $1.25 million in the 1994-95 year, but it does not
feel it can add new sports at will.
Dvorak said it takes approximately $250,000 to
start a new sport. Even if the building of new
facilities would not be necessary, as in the
case of men's crew and soccer, there are still
the costs of hiring coaches, traveling and
funding scholarships (which constantly grow
more expensive).
Besides, profits have been continually
growing smaller and - as is always the case
- much of them go right back into funding
the infrastructure on projects such as the con-
struction of the new Varsity Tennis Complex, the
resurfacing of the outdoor track and the renovations needed
in Yost Field House.
"There's a need to be fiscally responsible," Rothstein
said. "A lot of questions are being asked of how things will
be financed in 10 to 15 years."
Giovanazzi added, "There's a real quagmire (in adding
new sports) when you've only got so much money."
But Hartsuff is willing to dispute how the limited
amount of money should be spent, saying that gender
equity should not be based on participation statistics.
He said that in the United States, more men are competi-

"It seemed like when I came in they were a little behind
in the game," he said. "But they made a real concerted
effort to become a leader."
Giovanazzi says the biggest effect gender equity has
had on his team has been helping his athletes fulfill the
student half of being a student-athlete.
"Now there's academic support for all athletes," he said.
"They spent a lot of time boosting the academic programs."
But Giovanazzi will also jokingly say, "I'm one of the


Kansas State seeks ways to bring
its programs within NCAA law
Athletic dept. is searching for ways to implement Title IX

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The Kansas State Collegian
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The
women's basketball team has a small
locker room located in the recesses of
Ahearn Field House.
The men's locker room is at
Bramlage Coliseum.
Reebok provides the women's bas-
ketball team with court shoes. Reebok
provides a larger number of court
shoes for the men's team.
The women's basketball team at-
tracts a small gathering at their games.
The men's team draws thousands.
"The hardest part for us as female
athletes would be crowd support,"
Missy Decker, junior wing, said.
Traditionally, women's sports have
not received the same crowd or mon-
etary support as men's sports, Ath-
letic Director Max Urick said.
This year, as part of an effort to
move toward meeting Title IX,
women's and men's practice sched-
ules were more evenly dispersed than
in past years.
"Overall, we're treated very well
within our program," Decker said.
But the question isn't whether the
women are treated well, but if women
receive the same status and benefits
as men athletes.
Title IX of the Education Amend-
ments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimi-
nation in programs and activities that
receive federal financial assistance,
which includes intercollegiate athlet-
ics. However, most athletic depart-
ments haven't followed the act until
recently, Urick said.
Susan Scott, chair of the NCAA

self study equity committee and asso-
ciate dean of student life, said Title
IX requires substantial conformity in
areas of gender, minority and stu-
dent-athlete welfare issues.
The NCAA self-study committee
found K-State athletics gave more
money, and consequently more re-
cruiting and coaching, to men's sports.
"It's more than window dressing. It's
some substantial inequities here," Scott
said.
The equity committee has pro-
posed a plan for K-State's athletic
department to phase in Title IX re-
quirements during the next four
years. This plan must be fully
backed, including financially, by the
time a NCAA review committee
comes to K-State in April.
"We gave that designation based on
the fact that there were going to be
actual funds to implementTitle IX, not
simply a plan, but there had to be actual
dollars to back it up," she said. "There
has to be money, real money, by April."
Although the athletic department
doesn't know where the money will
come from, implementation has al-
ready begun. In response, accord-
ing to the NCAA self-study the De-
partment of Intercollegiate Athlet-
ics hired its first full-time female
assistant athletic director in 1995,
Cindy Fox. It also hired a female to
serve as the woman's golf coach, a
female strength and conditioning
undergraduate assistant coach was
added in 1995 and women's crew
will be a varsity sport in fiscal year
1996-97.

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"That is one of the smallest budgets
in the Big 8 and Big 12, and that is very
scary," she said.
For example, the University of Ne-
braska athletic department has a $24
million budget, but none ofthat is funded
by student fees.
The University of Kansas operates
on a $15 million budget, and stud s
pay $40 each year. Urick has pointeW
Kansas' fee as an example that K=State's
fee should be higher.
"I was hoping our students would
find us worthy enough to fund us at
least the level the Kansas students fund,"
Urick said after last week's Student

Women's crew, basketball and vol-
leyball received a boost of funds be-
ginning this year, which is the begin-
ning of a four-year implementation
plan for these sports that will total
$819,468.
"It'sa minimum budget to get thing
going," Fox said.
"We're going to be in compliance.
It's a matter of what steps we take to get
there."
Fox said money to meet Title IX
requirements can't be found in the ath-
letic department's tight $11 million
budget.


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