What Educational Institutions Can Do In Order to Comply With The Regulations of Title IX
Published: July 28, 2000
This is a critical time for college athletics. Currently, less than 9% of all Division I universities are considered to be in compliance (safe harbor) with the federal regulations of Title IX. The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) requires educational institutions to provide information to the public concerning their athletic operation and its compliance with Title IX. As a result of this law, the number of lawsuits filed against educational institutions will likely increase rapidly in the next few years.
Educational institutions schools will have to make difficult choices on how they choose to comply. Some schools have decided to increase the funding for women's sports by slashing the budget of their men's sports including the football and basketball teams. Many Division IA and IAA schools have decided that the only option that they have for achieving gender equity is eliminating one or more non-revenue men's sports, such as wrestling and gymnastics, and using these funds to start new teams for women. At least five schools (San Francisco, Pacific, Long Beach State, Cal-State Fullerton and Boston University) have eliminated football. The elimination of men's sports in order to fund new women's sports is contrary to the original intentions of Title IX.
One of the main purposes of athletic teams is be a public relations tool for the university. In fact, approximately 85% of all media references about a university are about their athletic teams. Often, the first time that a student learns about a university is from a newspaper article or during a television broadcast of a game involving the university's football or basketball team. In this way, universities use their athletic teams to attract more and better students to their campus. The elimination of men's sports often creates a public relations nightmare for the school. The elimination of men's sports also creates dissension within the athletic department among athletes and coaches and it effects the school's ability to recruit in other non-revenue sports because potential recruits tend to be fearful that their sport may also be eliminated if they choose to attend the school. Additionally, if the university wishes to be competitive for the Director's Cup or conference awards, cutting an established men's program is detrimental to those efforts.
Since athletic programs are public relations tools, schools have the following options: they can choose to be the subject of positive stories written concerning their efforts to provide more opportunities to female student-athletes, or the school can choose to be the subject of negative stories about embarrassingly low scores on gender equity measures, lawsuits resulting from non-compliance, or announcing the elimination of non-revenue men's teams. Thus, schools must find a creative way to add new women's teams and or improve the treatment of female student-athletes and their coaches before they are sued due to non-compliance with Title IX.
The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze what educational institutions have done and the effects on their level of compliance. It is our desire to show educational institutions that they have many options available to them other than eliminating non-revenue men's sports or slashing the budgets of their major revenue producing sports. We will also make suggestions of things that various groups can do in order to improve compliance on a national level.
The following is a list of some of the options available to schools:
- State Laws: At least 20 states have either passed legislation, or have legislation pending, for the purpose of improving gender equity in college athletics within the state. It is important to note that 75% of all Division IA schools are public universities. Meanwhile, 50% of all Division IAA schools and 33% of all IAAA schools are state schools. In most cases, the state laws came in response to lawsuits filed against one or all of the state schools. For example, the State of Washington passed legislation mandating that the University of Washington and Washington State University achieve a proportional participation ratio in their athletic programs. California had a similar law pending that was withdrawn as a result of a consent decree between California NOW and the California State University System.
At least five states have provided monetary assistance to schools within the state university system in the form of tuition waivers to increase the number of opportunities for female student-athletes. States that have taken this step include: Louisiana (50 tuition waivers per school), Illinois ($4.9 million split by 11 schools), Hawaii ($255,000 to the University of Hawaii), New Mexico ($287,000 to Eastern New Mexico and New Mexico State), Arkansas (allowed $300,000 of general fund to be used by each state school).
A few states have provided funding to schools in order to build facilities for women's athletics. The states that have done this include: Washington (provided $600,000 to the University of Washington to build a soccer and softball complex), Massachusetts (appropriated $7.4 million to improve facilities at 4 campuses) and West Virginia (appropriated $2 Million to the University of West Virginia in order to build a new indoor practice field for women's athletics).
Here are some more examples of what other states are doing in the attempt to improve Title IX compliance:
- Florida requires its schools to file gender equity compliance plans and to report information pertaining to compliance to the state.
- Massachusetts and Washington require each public school district to furnish information pertaining to Title IX to the Department of Education and to the public upon request.
- Michigan has legislation pending that would prohibit the elimination or reduction of services and scholarships provided for intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs solely to offset the overall ratio of male to female participation at the institution.
- Tennessee has set equal pay requirements for coaches and athletic directors contingent on coaches having equal experience in their respective sports.
- Utah created a sales tax exemption for amounts paid for admission to athletic events at schools subject to Title IX.
- Conference Mandates: Two Division IA conferences (Big 10 and SEC) have passed strong gender equalizing rules for their membership. The presidents of the Big 10 agreed unanimously to part one of an aggressive two part program in order to achieve gender equity. Part one of the program required its membership to achieve a 60/40 male/female participation ratio by June 30, 1997. Part two of the program is to match the undergraduate population ratio by the end of 2002. The Big 10 leads all Division IA Conferences with an average Gender Equity Compliance Quotient of .6658. It is obvious that the conference rule has been an important part of this. Meanwhile, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) member schools were required to provide a minimum of two more women's sports than men's sports by the beginning of 1995.
- Fund-Raising: At least 16 schools have begun programs designed to fund, either the women's program, or the entire athletic program. Title IX can create the perfect hook for a major development effort as well as other new revenue generation ideas. Here are a few examples of the fund raising programs universities have begun; Stanford has established a Women's Sports Enhancement Program, a four-year program to improve the women's participation ratios and teams. Harvard has developed a three-year plan to enhance its' women's athletic program and to endow the entire athletic program. Michigan is using money from annual giving and corporate sponsorships.
- Raise Ticket Prices: Penn State raised the prices of football and basketball tickets in order to generate additional revenues to be used for the women's athletic program.
- Raise Student Fees: At least seven schools (Central Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, California-Davis, and Sacramento State) have raised student fees in order to provide funding for the football team, fully fund their women's athletic program or improve facilities for the women's athletic program.
- Increase the Seating Capacity For An On-Campus Football Stadium: The University of Tennessee added 6,000 new seats to their football stadium and increased its seating capacity to 96,000. The money generated will help increase the contribution made by the men's athletic program to the women's athletic program from $1 million to $2 million per year. This has allowed the school to add four new women's sports (golf, crew, soccer and softball).
- Schedule An Extra Football Game: This may be a viable option for as many as 80 schools in Division IA. The extra game could be a Conference Championship Game, a regular season home game or a game versus a top opponent. For the home game, the school would receive extra income in the form of ticket sales, concessions and parking. Meanwhile, for the game against a top opponent, the school should receive a guarantee (being an ""opponent"") and may also receive additional television revenue.
- Use Bowl Money or Basketball Tournament Money: West Virginia used a portion of the money it received from the 1997 Gator Bowl in order to help finance improvements toward Title IX.
- Host a Special Events: Stanford hosted a number of soccer matches during the 1994 World Cup. The school used these profits to help support its women's athletic program.
- Use Reserve Fund Money: The University of Virginia used money from the athletic department's reserve fund in order to finance improvements toward gender equity.
- Tulane Plan: The Board of Trustees approved a $3.4 million appropriation for a strong commitment to gender equity. This represented a 518% increase to the current athletic allocation. In order to pay for this decision, the trustees cut over $8.5 million in academic money from the university's budget.
- Join a Stronger Conference: Memphis University decided to join the Conference USA because of its strength in basketball and football. The school plans to use the additional revenue to fund at least two additional women's sports and upgrade all women's teams to maximum scholarship levels.
- Move Down a Division: The University of Northern Illinois' football team had been operating at a debt of more than $1 million a year. In order to save money and to better comply with Title IX, the university decided to change their football team from Division IA to IAA. In the process, they were able to significantly reduce their football budget, fund the rest of the athletic program, provide 22 additional scholarships to women's sports and become more competitive in Division IAA football. Other schools that are low in compliance, not very competitive in football and are losing close to one million dollars a year may wish to examine this option.
- Capping Men's Sports: Many schools have implemented reasonable participation limits on men's sports. Reducing the number of walk-ons on most men's sports usually will not effect the competitiveness of the teams. Capping the football team at 100 players may allow the school to employ one less assistant coach. This money could then be used to increase the salaries of the coaches of women's teams to comparable levels as their male team counterparts. Another major benefit of the elimination of 30-50 roster spots would be that the need to consider dropping an existing men's non-revenue sport would be reduced. Some critics would suggest that capping men's sports is unfair to the male athletes of those teams. However, these same athletes have the opportunity to attend a different school where they could receive significant playing time and possibly even a scholarship. Additionally, the elimination of one assistant coach would increase the pool of candidates for head coaches in lower divisions.
- Requiring a Team Raise Their Own Budget: This option has come as a result of compromises between coaches and athletic directors usually after the school decided to eliminate the sport. The compromise usually allows the team a few years in order to try to become self-sufficient. If the team is able to raise the necessary funds they are able to stay at the varsity level. Otherwise, they would become a club sport team. Syracuse University's Wrestling is currently in this position.