6A-Thursday, March 15, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam 6A-Thursday, March 15, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 0 Female participation in sports at all-time high DE tre ste SAM DEAN/AP Celeste Peterson, mother of shooting victim Erin Perterson, right, cries after a verdict yesterday, Jury rules on the handling of 2007 gunmanbVirgina Tech Lawsuit final litigation in shootings CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) - The parents of two Vir- ginia Tech students killed in a 2007 campus massacre worked for years to prove university offi- cials were negligent for waiting to warn students of a gunman on campus, and a jury agreed with them yesterday. It took jurors 3/2 hours to find that university officials botched their response to the April 16, 2007, massacre that left 33 peo- ple - including the gunman - dead. The jury determined in the wrongful death lawsuit against the state that the parents of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson each deserved $4 million. The award likely will be sharply reduced because Virginia law requires such awards to be capped at $100,000. The lawsuit was the last pend- ing litigation over the mass shootings and it's not clear if any additional lawsuits will be filed. The state is expected to appeal the verdict, as it did a separate fine handed down by federal education officials. No crimi- nal charges were brought in the shootings. "We were looking for truth for a long time," Harry Pryde said outside the courthouse that's less than 10 miles from Tech's Blacks- burg campus. "We persevered and we got some truth today." After the verdict, the parents said their persistence is what their daughters would have want- ed. They were the only eligible families to reject their share of an $11 million dollar settlement in 2008, instead taking the state to court in a wrongful death lawsuit. The $11 million settlement was split between 24 families, exclud- ing other disbursements such as $1.9 million set aside in a hard- ship fund. The state could not immediately provide a per-family breakdown of the settlement. The families who sued the state, however, said getting answers mattered the most. They argued that lives could have been spared if school officials had moved more quickly to alert the campus after the first two victims were shot in a dorm. The massa- cre ended later in the morning with the deaths of 31 more peo- ple, including the gunman, in a classroom building. "When you know that some- thing is right you're not deterred from your course," said Celeste Peterson, whose daughter Erin died in the mass shooting that was the deadliest in modern U.S. history. "We wanted the truth from the very beginning and we got it. All I know is today we got what we wanted." The state, which was the lone defendant in the case, argued the university did all that it could with the information available at the time. President Charles W. Steger and other university offi- cials said they initially believed the first two shootings were isolated instances of domestic violence, based on what police investigators told them. In 1 duced team s versity made then, female athleti reache The women arounc of ne giate f to an teams to a st ian Ac penter Brook Thoug athleti risen women was f have s 440 fr 2004 - acquir from Act re Des Unive: ter foi legiate has p tinued report study has r lar wt ties th spite national 98.8 percent of colleges offering women's basketball programs. 'nd, U number LSA senior Jamillya Hardley, a guard on the varsity women's Y p basketball team, said the ever- expanding media coverage of By ZENA DAVE women's sports, especially bas- Daily StaffReporter ketball, has led to its heightened popularity. 1898, basketball was intro- "A lot more female athletes are as the first competitive becoming more popular in the port for women at the Uni- media and their talents are being . Women's athletics have recognized more," Hardley said. significant progress since "Every year there is something as recent data shows that new, like we have females dunk- participation in college ing now, and that's making the cs across the nation has game more exciting." d a record high. Though the number of female re are currently 9,274 varsity athletes has been on the n's intercollegiate teams decline, the University's13 wom- d the nation with a total en's teams exceed this year's arly 200,000 intercolle- highest-ever national average of emale athletes, amounting 8.73 teams per school. average of 8.73 women's Marcia Pankratz, head coach per institution, according ofthewomen's fieldhockeyteam, udy conducted by R. Viv- said the expansion of women's osta and Linda Jean Car- teams atthe University is impor- , professors emeritus at tant to offering more chances for lyn College in New York. females to excel and explore pro- ;h the University's female fessional sports options. it participation rates have "I think that the more oppor- significantly since the tunities that are afforded, then n's basketball program the more experience there is for irst developed, numbers young players to participate in lowly dropped - down to sports and then realize 'Wow, I om 523 female athletes in really like this profession, and I - accordingto information can also make a living at it,"' Pan- ed by The Michigan Daily kratz said. a Freedom of Information The number of female head quest. coaches of women's teams in the pite the decrease at the countryhas also reached arecord rsity, Acosta and Carpen- number at 3,974, with 42.9 per- und that female intercol- cent of women's teams headed athletic participation by female coaches, according to eaked this year, and con- the Brooklyn College study. This to grow since their last year's University reports on ath- was released in 2004. The letic participation have not yet also found that basketball been released, but trends show emained the most popu- that the number of female head omen's sport at universi- coaches has declined in the past roughout the nation, with decade, dropping from seven in 2002 to five in 2011. With the national rate of female head coaches at its high- est this year, Pankratz remains optimistic that the number will continue to grow. "I think over the years the support for women's athletics has grown not only emotion- ally, but certainly financially, and now it can be a profession as opposed to a part-time gig," Pankratz said. "I think young people can see women role mod- els coaching, and in positions of sports, it motivates them to know that they can do it them- selves as well." The number of female athletic administrators at the University has also exceeded the national average of 35.8 percent, with females comprising 38.4 percent of athletic administrators at the University. Chrissi Rawak, the senior associate athletic director for development at the University, said the University's efforts to diver- sify its athletic administration have caused employees to not place a major emphasis on gen- der in the workplace. "(Athletic Director) Dave (Brandon) believes in surround- ing himselfwith people that have diverse skills and strengths, and that includes people that have backgrounds that are unique and different," Rawak said. She added: "There are five women around the table of Dave's leadership team, and I know that I replaced a man. I don't necessarily think about gender, I think about qualifica- tions and experience and who is the best person for the job." The percentage of schools with a full-time female sports information director declined this year from an average of 12.2 percent in 2004 to a current average of 9.8 percent, accord- ing to the study. Still, the Uni- versity outscored the national average, with three female sports information directors currently employed. Sarah VanMetre, athletic communications coordinator for the women's varsity softball and volleyball teams, said she does not notice any discrimina- tion as a woman holding an SID position. "I was a student athlete myself," VanMetre said. "So I feel that is my biggest identi- \fier in this position - never my gender." The record high numbers for women's participation in sports this year have sparked excite- ment around the nation as female participation and equal- ity continues to grow, Pankratz said. "The young women who participate now, they have no idea what the women in the 70s and 80s went through so they could be afforded these oppor- tunities," Pankratz said. 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ATMTY'S - THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tolkien 45 Swelter 46 In anpwmap 48 Closed, us a sleeping bag 50 Sealing aids 52 Greenish-blue 53 "Bad Reputation" singer 55" only money!" 57 Mental grasp 61 Clueless 62Where'The Lord of the Rings" monies were filmed 64 ActressTeri 65 Bridgecail 66 Activist Brockovich 67 Dope (out) 68 Bother a lot 69 Stiff hair DOWN 1 Levels the playing field? 2 Cutting-in word 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 18 16 1T 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 4T 48 49 50 51 52 63 64 66 58 57 58 59 80 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 68 By Michael Doran 03/15/12 (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc, LIKE THE' DAILY ON FACEBOOK close to U of M North Campus affordable rates great tocation toeverything MICHSTUDENTHOUSING.COM 0 I A