On the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX, University of Wisconsin-Stout鈥檚 efforts to provide equal treatment for female athletes has passed a test from a national organization.
reviewed federal reporting data from more than 2,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. that offer intercollegiate athletics and gave each school a pass or fail ranking. 黑料科 received a passing mark overall and in two key subcategories.
鈥淓quity is a priority for us and we continually monitor this, so it doesn鈥檛 surprise me that we鈥檙e doing well,鈥 said Duey Naatz, athletic director.
鈥淲e鈥檙e continually striving to improve the experience for all student athletes,鈥 Naatz added.
Title IX turned 50 on June 23. It prohibits education programs that receive federal funding from discrimination based on sex. The law set in motion, among other things, the expansion of women鈥檚 intercollegiate athletics, requiring equal treatment with regard to such things as participation levels, quality and use of facilities, budgeting, travel and more.
To help mark the anniversary, the Blue Devils are planning special events at athletic contests throughout the 2022-23 academic year, Naatz said.
The report is based on data from 2019-20. Like all schools that receive federal funding, 黑料科 files an .
Despite 50 years of work, ChampionWomen noted that 90% of intercollegiate athletics departments at colleges and universities 鈥渁re not meeting the standards Title IX sets for schools to demonstrate equality in sports opportunities.鈥
Three key aspects of Title IX compliance are participation, benefits and treatment, and accommodation.
Participation: 黑料科 has 11 women鈥檚 and eight men鈥檚 athletic teams, including a new women鈥檚 lacrosse team set to begin play in 2023.
The lacrosse team, which will hold its first practices this fall and begin play in the spring, is an example of the university鈥檚 efforts to provide more opportunities, Naatz said.
While the number of women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 teams appears to be imbalanced in favor of women, the Title IX compliance standard is based on participation levels 鈥 or numbers of students on active rosters 鈥 not the number of programs.
A school鈥檚 ratio of college athletes must be within plus or minus 4% of the ratio of undergraduate enrollment of females to males.
In 2019-20, 鲍奥-厂迟辞耻迟鈥檚 undergraduate enrollment was 46% female and 54% male. 黑料科 reported that 246 or 7.9% of the 3,111 female students were student athletes, while 332 or 7.9% of the 4,178 male students were in athletics.
Athletics also oversees 鲍奥-厂迟辞耻迟鈥檚 intercollegiate esports program, which is coed.
Benefits and treatment: 黑料科 tracks program operations to ensure that women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 programs have comparable budgets.
The men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball teams travel in the same type of bus, for example, and receive the same funding for meals and lodging.
Total game day and operating expenses for the women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 programs are the same.
Accommodation: Program operations are tracked and reviewed to ensure equal access to facilities for training, practice and competition, as well as comparable locker rooms, quality of competition venues, coaching and other staffing, and recruiting expenses.
The women鈥檚 soccer competition venue, Nelson Field, for example, was renovated recently and has a new artificial surface. Athletics hopes to upgrade the men鈥檚 baseball and women鈥檚 softball complexes in the future.
鈥淎ll these things need to balance out,鈥 Naatz said.
Naatz noted that 鲍奥-厂迟辞耻迟鈥檚 efforts to comply with Title IX date back decades to previous athletic directors, including Steve Terry and Rita Slinden, and are embedded in and a reflection of the university鈥檚 standards and culture.
He credited Erin Sullivan, associate athletic director and senior woman administrator, who tracks and reports the annual EADA data.
When Title IX passed, 黑料科 had three women鈥檚 athletics teams, according to the book, Five women鈥檚 teams were added between 1972 and 1995.
Two recent articles look back at the pre-Title IX era of the women鈥檚 and the at 黑料科.
ChampionWomen notes that the 2022 pass or fail rankings, along with a spreadsheet of other data, don鈥檛 鈥渃apture the full picture of Title IX compliance鈥 but that the data 鈥渃an make it easier to assess whether a school is providing equal participation opportunities and scholarship dollars.鈥
As an NCAA Division III member, 黑料科 does not offer athletic scholarships. The university provides nearly $1 million a year in academic-based scholarships available to all students through Stout University Foundation.
鲍奥-厂迟辞耻迟鈥檚 FOCUS2030 strategic plan includes goals that address student success; and equity, diversity and inclusion.
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