
DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706240536

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  125 lines

SURVEY SHOWS ODU IS ``A'' OK IN GENDER EQUITY UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN COMPLYING WITH TITLE IX.

Old Dominion ranks among the national leaders in gender equity, according to results of a national survey of NCAA schools.

The Women's Sports Foundation issued a ``Gender Equity Report Card'' last week, grading 767 NCAA member institutions on how their athletic programs serve women. Old Dominion - with an overall grade of A- - was one of just 15 schools of 273 respondents in Division I to receive an ``A'' grade.

``That's fabulous,'' ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett said. ``That's good news.''

The report was issued on the eve of Monday's 25th anniversary of the Title IX, the federal law that prohibits gender-based athletic discrimination at institutions receiving federal funds.

The survey was based on the 1995-96 academic year.

The nonprofit Women's Sports Foundation derived its letter grades on the basis of an eight-page questionnaire sent in February to the presidents of 902 schools affiliated with the NCAA. There were 767 respondents.

Among the schools that either responded too late to be included in the study or did not respond were Norfolk State and Hampton. ODU was the only Virginia school to receive an overall ``A'' grade. Virginia Tech and George Mason received a B, while a B- was given to Virginia, Virginia Wesleyan, and William and Mary.

Jarrett, who has served on many NCAA committees and focus groups concentrating on women's athletics, said the grade is the result of a long-term commitment.

``I think many years ago Old Dominion recognized the importance of intercollegiate athletics to the student athlete,'' Jarrett said. ``If it's good for male athletes, it's also good for female athletes. We took that concept and developed our athletic program with that in mind. For close to a 20-year period, we have taken that focus.''

The Women's Sports Foundation graded the schools on four criteria: the percentage of female athletes compared with the percentage of women in the student body; scholarship money spent on women; recruiting spending; and the percentage of the overall athletics budget used for women's sports. In the four separate categories, ODU received B+, A, A- and B+, respectively.

Clearly, high marks were difficult to attain for Division I football-playing schools. Only seven schools out of 203 in Division I-A and I-AA received A grades, while eight of 70 I-AAA schools - those without football, like Old Dominion - received an A. The five Division I-A schools to receive an A were Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Washington State, Washington and Penn State.

The Women's Sports Foundation expects the survey to put pressure on college athletic programs that are lagging in gender-equity issues. The foundation's president, Donna Lopiano, said that without strict enforcement of Title IX by the federal government, only lawsuits or bad press will force college athletic programs to change.

``I would expect what we would like to happen is for the president to say to the athletic director, `Get your act straight. We don't want to go through this again,' '' Lopiano said.

Though the change in college athletics has been significant since the inception of Title IX, the survey concludes there is a long way to go.

The report said women constituted 53 percent of all undergraduate students, but just 37 percent of all NCAA athletes, during the 1995-96 school year. It also showed many schools spent less on women's sports and paid head coaches for women's teams less than coaches for men's teams.

``American colleges and universities appear to be more strongly committed to meeting the needs of and interests of male athletes than female athletes,'' said project director Dr. Don Sabo, a foundation trustee and sociology professor at D'Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y.

``Schools invested a disproportionately larger amount of scholarship aid and coaching salaries in the futures of young men rather than young women.'' MEMO: The Associated Press and Knight-Ridder News Service contributed to

this report. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

MAKING THE GRADE

The letter grades received by several Virginia schools from the

``Gender Equity Report Card'' issued last week by the Women's Sports

Foundation, which surveyed 902 NCAA member schools and received 767

responses. The overall grade is derived by averaging the school's

grades in four criteria: the percentage of female athletes compared

with the percentage of women in the student body; scholarship money

spent on women; recruiting spending; and the percentage of the

overall athletics budget used for women's sports:

School Grade

Division I