Copyright 2002 The Denver Post All Rights Reserved
The Denver Post
June 18, 2002 Tuesday 1ST EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. D-08
LENGTH: 760 words
HEADLINE:
Funding debate picks up steam
BYLINE: By Natalie
Meisler, Denver Post Sports Writer,
BODY: The ominous e-mails spread with the fury of a computer
virus and in much the same way: The messages were delivered to
entire address books.
They originated from
different source groups, but the wording was similar: 'I am writing
to inform you about some fairly substantial rumors flying around
Washington, D.C., that President Bush plans to announce his intent to
'revisit' some of the enforcement guidelines for Title IX.' It went on to state an announcement may
occur when the U.S. Department of Education was scheduled to respond
to a Title IX challenge lawsuit by the National Wrestling Coaches
Association.
Recipients of the e-mail were directed to
the Women's Sports Foundation sample letter and address links to
Congress and the White House.
'I know in a
two-day period, 13,000 letters or e-mails came through our site,' WSF
executive director Donna Lopiano said.
The wrestling
coaches, as part of a multiple-plaintiff suit against the U.S.
Department of Education, contend the 1996 clarification of Title IX
'discriminates against male athletes in nonrevenue sports by cutting
men's programs instead of adding women's programs.'
But there were no Title IX policy announcements coming out
of Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Justice dismissed the
suit May 29. But because the basis for the dismissal were
legal procedural technicalities, Title IX advocates remain uneasy.
'It wasn't reassuring,' said Lopiano, who visited
the University of Denver on Saturday to address an institute
for women's sports administrative advancement.
'I think (the administration) was buying time. I still think
the administration will try to reopen it,' Lopiano said. 'It's a very
conservative administration with a far-right view.'
Lopiano said it was fair to say she was vilified in a
book 'Tilting the Playing Field' by Jessica Gamora, a speechwriter
for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and policy adviser with
the Department of Justice.
While Lopiano
talks about the 'far right view,' Gamora asserts in her book, 'the
Women's Sports Foundation pursues a relentlessly political agenda to
turn the grant of opportunity for women guaranteed under Title IX
into a grant of preference. Under the leadership of Lopiano, the WSF
has done more than any other group to convince colleges and
universities that compliance with Title IX means manipulating the
numbers of male and female athletes.'
Lopiano has
responded that Gavora's spin on the numbers is 'pure garbage.'
Lopiano, 55, a one-time University of Texas
administrator with a Ph.D. from Southern California, maintains a
grueling schedule of speaking engagements. Position papers on the
WSF website outline perceived excesses in football spending, such
as lights on rarely used practice fields, staying in hotels
before home games and a preseason camp catering bill more than twice
that of a women's team travel budget.
She is
not advocating the elimination of football, just budget cuts. She
speaks hypothetically of cutting the current number of football
scholarships at the Division I-A level from 85 to 60 but isn't
specifically calling for such a move.
'At very few
schools, football makes more than it spends,' Lopiano said.
Reminded that football at the University of Colorado
directly produced nearly $ 15 million in revenue or twice the
program's listed expenses, she said: 'That's not the point. Nothing
is going to happen to football, even if they were to cut scholarships
to 60. We're talking about increasing profits by getting rid
of excess expenses. They've been saying for 30 years that Title
IX would kill football. If anything the (85-scholarship limit)
has made the sport healthier.
'If I'm an
athletic director, I would keep football strong, keep it
competitive,' Lopiano said. 'But I'd also make sure it doesn't
expense you out the kazoo.'
Gavora cites the number of
men's programs lost to gender equity, while Lopiano recites her own.
The bottom line being for every $ 2 spent on men's sports, a dollar
goes to women.
Meanwhile, at DU's Ritchie Center, where
Lopiano spoke, there was a classic Title IX snapshot of some
youngsters oblivious to the grownups' numbers war.
Young girls in a gym for the Pam Tanner summer camp
were learning basketball's shooting and dribbling skills they will
need to inherit the scholarships held by their college-aged
instructors.
Document 37 of 67. 