Gender equity has created an intriguing set of circumstances in the world of college athletics.

On the one hand, Title IX, the federal law which forbids sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funds, has opended the window of opportunity for scores of female athletes. The NCAA women's basketball tournament offers ample proof. The Women's Final has attracted a average of almost 50,000 fans over the past two years. And there are other examples. Soccer has blossomed as a premier women's sport in America. Colleges and universities are a major part of the feeder system that produced players for the 1996 Olympic gold-medal winning U.S. soccer team.

Women's gymnastics and swimming are also on the rise as collegiate sports which feature top-caliber competition and widespread fan support. But there is a down side. While there are now more women sports programs on the collegiate scene, critics say that in general, women have benefitted at the expense of men's sports.

It's All About Proportionality In order for schools to comply with Title IX, schools have to provide opportunities for female athletes that are in line with the percentage of females on that campus. Put another way, if a school's student body is 55 percent women, 55 percent of its total athletic offerings must be geared toward women. The law doesn't mandate that schools treat men's and women's sports identically, but it does say that the benefits for both should be comparable.

Few schools have yet met this text, according to recent surveys [see BI the Numbers, pg. 27], but pressure to comply may increase after a landmark Title IX case against Brown University works its was; through the Supreme Court. For many schools, adhering to Title IX means cutting men's sports to provide funding for women. In amny instances, schools have had to eliminate some men's spot's or reduce -- sometimes dramatically -- the number of scholarships and coaches in those sports.

"If you increase opportunities for one group, I'm not so sure that you don't wind up denying another group," says Alex wood, head football coach at James Madison University and vice-president of the Black coaches Association. "And because there's only so much money available to operate a college sports program, somebody will inevitably get the short end of the stick."

Football has become a main target for Title IX advocates because it eats up a large chunk of the athletic budget. The sport is expensive because of the large roster sizes (80-100 players), equipment, and recruiting costs.

Title IX supporters assert that schools can reduce football scholarships and still maintain a competitive program. They point to National Football League (NFL) teams which have roster limits of forty-five players. When compared to the eighty-five scholarship limit that the major college football programs have, they ask, "If the pros prosper with forty-five, why can't the colleges?" Decreasing the number of football scholarships, Title IX proponents explain, will free up sufficient money to finance women's sports.

Race v. Gender

This is where race and gender wind up on a collision course. "The race versus gender issue is very real," says Wood. "In football, a large number of the players are Black. So when you start cutting scholarships, you not only take away the opportunity to play, you take away the opportunity to go to school. Playing football is the only way that a lot of Black players get to go to college at all."

Black males aren't the only ones to feel the pinch. Black women, ironically, are also caught in the crunch. As a group, Black women have not benefitted from Title IX because the expansion in women's athletics involves sports where Black female participation is minimal. It is estimated that approximately 97 percent of the 4,000 Black female collegiate athletes participate in basketball or track and field. However, the so-called "emerging" or nontraditional sports -- gymnastics, swimming, crew, lacrosse and soccer, to name a few -- are the ones that many schools are opting to add to help meet Title IX guidelines.

"Women of color are hurt because they don't participate in those sports where all the expansion is taking place," says Dee Todd, assistant commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. "Women of color have a double protected status [because of race and gender], but they're still left out. Most play basketball or run track. You'll see a handful in volleyball, softball and soccer, but that's about it. As a result, Tide IX doesn't do a whole lot for women of color."

While Blacks don't participate in the non-traditional sports in large numbers, Todd says there is one sport that many colleges and Black athletes have yet to look at as an alternative -- team handball.

"I can't say why more schools aren't playing team handball," says Todd. "You don't need a lot in terms of facilities, all you need is a wall. But the people who can do well in this sport are athletes who've played basketball and volleyball -- sports that require good hand-to-eye coordination."

Broadening Athletic Horizons

In the long run, Black athletes -- male and female -- will have to broaden their athletic horizons if they want to earn college athletic scholarships. In other words, Blacks will have to begin taking up sports other than football, basketball and track because there won't be any expansion in those sports.

Todd feels Blacks can he steered toward other sports if they're exposed at an early age. "I talk to youngsters all the time and I tell them if they want a college scholarship, get a golf club and learn how to play, or take swim lessons, or get into youth soccer. There's no reason why Black youngsters can't do well in those sports. It's all a matter of exposure."

There are no easy solutions in the athletic competition between race and gender. In too many instances, it seems that the two are always in direct conflict. But even when they are not, problems can arise. For example, a school might add field hockey to its sports menu to comply with Title IX, then discover that there is not sufficient interest among the students to maintain it. In that scenario, the sport was added strictly because of Title IX, not because the students wanted it.

In the short-term, however, Wood contends that schools can individually do the right thing by choosing to allocate their athletic resources in a fair manner among men and women's sports.

"Everybody should have the opportunity to play and have a good experience in doing so," Wood says. "The same kinds of opportunities should be provided for everybody, and nobody should feel like they're getting second-class treatment. Each school has to look at its own situation and make a decision based on what their individual needs are. Schools have to look at what their constituents want."

COPYRIGHT 1997 Cox, Matthews & Associates