Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994 TAG: 9401260134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
But the fact that her name is on a lawsuit against the college she attends - Virginia Tech - still is sinking in. She and 11 other female athletes at Tech have filed a sex-discrimination suit against the school to force it to upgrade four women's sports - softball, lacrosse, crew and field hockey - to varsity status.
"I didn't even know if it was the right thing to do," she said. "My father, he never really told me if he was behind me on this. I have three older sisters [two of whom attended Tech]. At Christmas, one of my sisters asked him, `What do you think?' He said, `Actually, I wish one of you all would've done this.' "
Grieshaber, from Rockville, Md., said that kind of support has been trickling in from friends and other students, too.
"The farther it goes along, the better I feel about it," she said.
Grieshaber is the only senior among the 12 plaintiffs, so she said she won't be able to play softball even if the suit is successful. She says she's not anti-Tech nor anti-men's sports. But she drew a parallel between women's athletic opportunities and women's opportunities to attend Virginia Tech, which went co-educational in 1965.
"I've experienced a lot of what isn't," she said, referring to the difference between a varsity and club sports.
"They say that they'll do things, and it just doesn't get done. Maybe with a court order, it will. If someone doesn't do something, it will always stay the same."
by CNB