Yale and Title IX: not quite up to snuff

Yale has taken steps to equalize men's and women's sports, but disparities still exist.

By Kate Moran

Picture this: you wake up tomorrow and find out you won't be attending The Game next month because the Yale Athletic department has been forced to terminate the football team's existence. Don't be alarmed, there is no chance of this happening--but it did happen at the University of Providence. And if other universities neglect Title IX regulations, which demand equal treatment of men's and women's teams, their men's teams could suffer the same fate.

Providence, having already sacrificed its large, expensive football programs, lost its baseball, men's golf, and men's tennis teams earlier this month. The reductions were necessary for the school to comply with Title IX statutes, which require that the percentage of female athletes equal the percentage of female students. Since Providence's student body is 59 percent female, Title IX mandates that 59 percent of its varsity athletes should be female. Yet it seems shocking that four men's teams had to be eliminated in order to comply with these rules. Could anything else have been done? Is Yale facing the same difficulties in complying with Title IX? A quick glance at the numbers gives the impression of substantial inequalities between Eli men's and women's sports, yet Yale Athletics brass maintain that they are ahead of most other Ivies in their efforts to comply with Title IX--and most varsity athletes agree. But Title IX also affects some men's club athletes who are unlikely to gain the varsity status they desire.

Title IX: as easy as one, two, three

In 1972, under pressure from feminists and civil rights activists, Congress created Title IX in an attempt to eliminate gross gender inequalities in high school and collegiate athletics. Under Title IX, schools must provide women's teams with equipment, facilities, and coaching comparable in quality to those of men's teams. Also, universities must allocate women's teams adequate scholarship money and sufficient funds to recruit players. In addition, Title IX forbids the percentage of female athletes or teams at a school to be lower than the percentage of female students.

Title IX has transformed the status of women's sports in the U.S. since its implementation in the early 1970s. Today, 34.8 percent of NCAA athletes, as opposed to 15.6 percent in 1972, are female. Also, the quality and intensity of women's sports has dramatically improved. At the 1996 and 1998 Olympics, the women's softball and ice hockey players, members of the first generation to benefit from Title IX, brought home gold medals.

Yale's report card

At Yale, Title IX has propelled women's sports to new levels. In 1985, five women's varsity teams did not have full-time coaches, but today, every program has at least one head and one assistant coach. As recently as 1990, women's teams were restricted to competing with schools in New England, such as Smith, Trinity, and Connecticut College. Now, however, female athletes receive the funds necessary to travel as far as Duke, and several women's teams train in Florida in the off-season.

Despite these gains, statistics released by the Athletic Department at the end of the '97-'98 school year reveal glaring disparities in the treatment of male and female athletes. Last year, the average salary for the coaches of men's teams was $52,992, while the coaches of women's teams received an average of $47,961. Furthermore, the men's ice hockey team boasted 33 players and racked up $98,704 in operating expenses, while the women's team had 19 players and received only $46,287 for operating expenses. Most unequal were recruiting expenditures: men's coaches spent $419,111, while women's coaches spent only $151,217.

These figures seem to indicate that, despite the passage of Title IX, sexism in sports persists at Yale. However, as Barbara Chesler, associate director of Yale athletics, pointed out, "Numbers do not define the quality of the experience for female athletes." We must therefore examine the allotment of funds more closely before accusing Yale of violating Title IX.

According to Chesler, the discrepancy in coaches' salaries does not reflect a bias against women's sports. She noted that salaries are proportional to the length of a coach's tenure at Yale, pointing out that several men's coaches have been at Yale for more than a decade. Chesler also mentioned that some coaches of women's teams make more money than their male counterparts.

Leagues of their own

Although unequal salaries for men's and women's coaches do not constitute violations of Title IX, the skewed distribution of funds to the hockey teams appears to indicate a blatant disregard for the 1972 law. However, the coaches and players of the women's hockey team feel they are treated fairly. Ashley Campion, BK '01, said that the men's squad is larger because the women's team is fairly new.

John Marchetti, head coach of women's ice hockey, agreed with Campion's statement. "We are not limited to 18 players. Our goal is to get to around 27 players. We hope to fill our locker room as women's hockey becomes more popular," he said. Campion and Marchetti both attributed the discrepancy in funding to the size of the teams; both believe the athletic department makes every effort to support women's hockey. The women's team has a new locker room and will play several evening games, a time when fan attendance is highest, for the first time this season.

Other female athletes expressed satisfaction with the status of women's sports at Yale. Julianna Schantz-Dunn, CC '00, captain of the women's hockey team, said that the Athletic Department has been "super-supportive" of her team. Volleyball captain Rosie Wustrack, BR '99, added that "the locker rooms are great, and we split time equally in the ampitheather with men's teams."

Yet not only women's teams have been affected by Title IX. Men's wrestling, water polo, and volleyball teams have all lost their varsity status since Title IX's passage. Chelser maintains that these teams were not reduced to club status because of Title IX pressures--she says the "difficult financial period at the time," forced the reductions. Perhaps some of this strain was caused by compulsory concomitant increases in women's athletics.

"The idea behind Title IX was not to shrink men's teams," Zach Kaufman, SY '00, a member of the men's club wrestling team, commented. "Unfortunately, a lot of men's athletics at different colleges have suffered as a result. I'd like to see the original goal reached without either gender's sports suffering." Trevor Hawkins, DC '99, a member of the men's club water polo team, added, "We don't get the recognition we deserve." He said that his team is forced to practice late at night and currently has neither traveling money nor new equipment. If water polo had retained its varsity status, Hawkins believes the team would not be facing these problems.

Where has all the money gone?

As Marchetti commented, the Athletic Department seems to "have met and gone beyond" the regulations imposed by Title IX. But the question of money for recruiting remains. Why do men's coaches receive nearly four times the recruiting funds as do women's?

In Chesler's estimation, the football program receives most of the scouting funds. "We want about 35 freshman recruits for football, and we need four times that number to apply," she explained. Though football consumes a large part of available recruiting money, Chesler maintains that "Yale does not deny any coach--male or female--the chance to go out and recruit."

Football attracts more fans and alumni than many other Yale sports, and it gives back thousands of dollars in revenue from ticket sales, parking, and concessions to Yale each year. Women's teams looking to expand their rosters and their recognition could use some of the football team's funds. With more funds, perhaps programs such as women's hockey could add more players and become like men's ice hockey, attracting crowds of students and alumni and selling out Ingalls Rink for every game.

Appropriating more funds for female recruits would also send a strong message about Yale's commitment to gender equality. As Campion explained, "It's very important for the self-esteem of women in varsity sports that they feel they are treated equally." Schantz-Dunn added, "A lot of younger girls from New Haven come to our games and are in awe that women play hockey in college. We need to give them something to look up to."

Graphic by Sara Edward-Corbett.

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