Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994 TAG: 9405140017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Amy Sabrin, lead counsel for the women, says some progress has been made but that talks are "stalled" because Tech won't reveal details of its plan to comply with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination by institutions that receive federal aid.
That shouldn't matter, says Tech, which maintains it started plans to meet Title IX before the suit was filed in January.
"The negotiations with the lawsuit and our plan for Title IX are two completely different things, and they are separate from each other," said Tech assistant athletic director Steve Horton, Tech's designated spokesman on the issue. "We are going on with our plan."
The women are club-sport athletes at Tech who claim the school has violated Title IX, which requires college athletic departments to provide opportunities, budgets and facilities to women athletes at a percentage roughly the same as there are women students. Tech claims it hasn't discriminated.
The two sides met twice in April and convened in Roanoke on Wednesday to receive a court date (Jan. 4 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia).
Tech expects to publicly release its Title IX commitment next week, but Horton stressed it is not a response to the lawsuit or a settlement offer. Both sides said they intend to continue negotiations.
Sabrin wants to know Tech's intentions.
"It's hard for us to negotiate in the face of some unknown, secret plan," she said.
Even so, Sabrin admitted the meetings haven't been completely fruitless. She would not specify what progress had been made.
"I think that we're close, but there are some key sticking points," she said.
One of those apparently is attorneys' fees. The outcome of the suit - either in court or through settlement - could find Tech liable for some or all of the plaintiffs' costs. The University of Texas, for example, settled a Title IX suit and was held liable for up to $211,000 in attorneys' fees.
Tech believes it never should have been sued because it already was working on a plan to comply with the law.
"We don't believe there should be any attorneys' fees, because they haven't done anything," Horton said.
Said Sabrin: "Our primary goal is to expand opportunities for women to play sports at Virginia Tech. If the university makes a serious effort . . . we will be flexible on fees and flexible on damages."
\ GOOD FOSTER: Virginia Tech coach Bill Foster will spend part of July in Russia as an assistant coach for the United States' Goodwill Games team, but one of the highlights of his summer will come after the international competition July 23-28.
On July 31, the Goodwill Games team faces Dream Team II (Shaquille O'Neal, Joe Dumars, Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp and friends) in an exhibition in Oakland, Calif.
"You think you've got some good ones until you see them," Foster said.
Foster, head coach George Raveling and assistant Kelvin Sampson met recently to recommend a roster to a USA Basketball committee headed by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Foster wouldn't say who was recommended, but said the prospects include "all the top kids" who are returning to college - players like Arkansas' Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman and Duke's Cherokee Parks.
"It'll be like the Olympic team used to be," Foster said. "Some of those trick plays might work. Hopefully, I'll come out of there with some good ideas and thoughts."
\ HOOPS NOTES: Foster said transfer David Jackson, brother of current Tech player Jim, will be awarded a scholarship for the '94-95 school year, his first year of eligibility. That puts Tech at the limit of 13; transfer Troy Manns (eligible in '95-96) will receive need-based aid in '94-95. Foster said reserve forward Dwayne Archbold has scholarship offers from schools at all levels and has visited Division I Fairleigh Dickinson but has not decided whether he wants to transfer. If a scholarship opens before the '94-95 season, Foster said he'd be "shocked if we gave it in the fall" because he won't know the program's needs until midway through the season.
\ ETC: Former Blacksburg banker Lu Merritt begins his new job Monday as Tech's chief athletic fund-raiser. Merritt already has hands-on experience with college athletics, however; he co-chaired the Metro 1991 committee that produced the '91 Metro Conference basketball tournament in Roanoke . . . A home game with Delaware State has been added to Tech's 1994-95 basketball schedule, leaving the Hokies a game short of a full schedule . . . The field for the season-opening San Juan Shootout was strengthened when Alabama-Birmingham replaced New Hampshire.
by CNB