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June 21, 2002--The National Women’s Law Center recently reported that 30 colleges and universities were not making satisfactory progress toward providing equitable scholarship funding for their female athletes, as is required by Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education.
The report was released near the 30th anniversary of Title IX, which has had tremendous impact in university athletics programs by widening varsity participation among women.
The University of Delaware has a longstanding commitment to equity of athletic opportunity, according to Edgar Johnson, UD director of athletics.
Q. What is the participation rate for women in UD varsity athletics?
A. The participation rate for women in 2001-2002 was 48.7 percent of the total number of varsity athletes, and available scholarship funding was 47.5 percent of the University’s athletic scholarship budget. This is good news of which we can all be proud because it is important to remember that in 1991 the scholarship funding for women was only 22 percent.
Q. What was your reaction to the National Women’s Law Center report?
A. The report relies on the Equity in Athletics Disclosure form, which does not provide a completely accurate picture of an institution's efforts because it reports only funding "in use," not funding available and not allocated for one reason or another. According to those Equity in Athletics Disclosure figures, which were reported in the Wilmington News Journal, UD’s “in use” scholarship allocation was 42 percent. That compares to available scholarship funding of 47.5 percent. As such, these types of comparisons can be misleading and fail to present a fair picture of an institution’s commitment to equity.
Q. How does the overall UD athletics program compare to those of other NCAA member institutions?
A. We are very proud of our athletics program, which offers men and women opportunities to compete in a total of 23 intercollegiate athletics programs, one of the largest such programs in the nation. There are 11 varsity sports for men and 12 for women, and we certify more than 800 athletes per year.
The University of Delaware athletics program has a passion for excellence, a commitment to the needs of men and women student-athletes, a clear understanding of the significance of athletics on a college campus and a value system that nurtures the concept of community and continuity, of friends and, ultimately, of family.
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