Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 14, 1994 TAG: 9402140032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tech has not negotiated with lawyers for the women since the lawsuit was filed Jan. 25 in federal court in Roanoke, preferring to let the Board of Visitors vote on the Tech athletic department's plan for full compliance with Title IX. The Board of Visitors votes on the plan today at its regularly scheduled meeting.
The dozen women say Tech does not provide a ratio of male-female athletic opportunities equal to its male-female enrollment percentage, one requirement of the law that prohibits sex-based discrimination by institutions that receive federal aid.
The women want softball, field hockey, crew and lacrosse upgraded to varsity sports, and they are asking for damages that include scholarship money they say they could not have because their sports were at club status.
Tech has not released specifics of its plan, but sources have said it would bring Tech's athletic-opportunities ratio to within about 2 percent of its enrollment ratio in a period of fewer than five years.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs has said such a timetable is unacceptable.
Elyzabeth Holford, a Tech physical education professor who has a law degree, led a committee that last fall studied Tech's standing on Title IX issues. The committee's report was used by Tech athletic director Dave Braine as he devised the plan that will be voted on today.
"I haven't read the plan," Holford said. "My hope is, and I'm somewhat assured, that the university and the Board of Visitors will do the right thing. It would be my expectation the university would make every effort to move toward compliance."
Tech vice president Minnis Ridenour has been quoted as saying the hardest part of the plan is finding the money to make it happen.
by CNB