UNLV targeted as not being compliant

Steve Addy

Thursday, June 20, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

UNLV's quest to achieve gender equity in its athletic program has received a failing grade -- and a pointed letter -- from a Washington, D.C.-based women's rights group.

But university president Dr. Carol Harter said the school is making "significant strides" in Title IX compliance and pledged to continue working toward that goal.

To mark Sunday's 30th anniversary of Title IX's passage, the National Women's Law Center cited UNLV among 30 schools which did not award a proportionate amount of athletic scholarship funds to females in the 2000-01 school year.

Based on figures provided by UNLV to the U.S. Department of Education, 46 percent of the school's athletes were female, but they received only 39 percent of its $3.3 million in total athletic scholarships. The seven-percent shortfall appears to violate Title IX guidelines, which allow a one percent variance.

The NWLC said UNLV female athletes should have received $232,668 more in scholarships that went to males. That shortfall pales in comparison to other schools, such as the University of Miami ($640,944), but NWLC co-president Marcia D. Greenberger wants answers from all 30 university presidents.

"We hope these schools will come forward to fulfill their legal obligation to their female athletes and treat them fairly," said Greenberger, who sent letters to the presidents Tuesday.

To UNLV's Harter, Greenberger wrote, "We look forward to your immediate reply, setting out the specific steps you will take to remedy the scholarship gap at your institution."

In a statement from the State Board of Regents meeting in Elko, Harter conceded that UNLV's gender equity efforts are "a work in progress." But she pointed out several advances that have brought the school closer to full compliance.

"During my presidency we have added women's golf, soccer and volleyball programs," Harter said. "The university recently opened one of the premier women's softball stadiums in the country (Eller Media Stadium).

"We consider equity in athletic scholarships to be an important part of this issue. UNLV fully funds all of its female athletic scholarships, and it will continue to do so."

The eight-member women's golf program began in 2001-02, so it wasn't included in the data used by the NWLC. Also in 2001, UNLV opened the $16.8 million Cox Pavilion, which helped equalize men's and women's training facilities and serves as the volleyball team's home court.

NWLC senior counsel Neena Chaudhry said UNLV's strides remain insufficient.

"We applaud any progress they are making," she said. "But this (scholarship disparity) is a problem. If they're truly committed to women's programs, they will step up to the plate.

"We want to work with schools to help fix the problem, to make sure women are getting their fair share of opportunities and scholarships."

According to figures filed with the Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, UNLV awarded $3,306,456 in athletic scholarships in 2000-01. Females comprised 46 percent of the school's athletes (191 of 419), but received only 38.5 percent ($1,274,571) of the total scholarship funds.

Females at other schools fared worse. At Kansas State, they comprised 52 percent of the athletes, but got only 35 percent of the scholarship dollars, a 17-percent disparity that ranked highest among the 30 schools in the report. Female athletes at KSU were shortchanged by $507,742, according to the NWLC.

UNLV's shortfall of $232,668 ranked 10th-highest in the report.

Chaudhry said the schools cited aren't the only apparent Title IX violators, but said the NWLC chose them to represent a broad range of public and private institutions, and athletic programs of varying prominence and resources.

"These aren't necessarily the worst 30, but they are representative of the schools that aren't compliant," Chaudhry said.

UNLV offers 10 women's sports and seven men's. The school regards women's outdoor track and field, indoor track and field, and cross country as three sports, though most of their athletes are on outdoor track scholarships.

The other women's sports are basketball, volleyball (returned in 1996), soccer (started in 1998), swimming and diving, softball, tennis and golf (2001).

The men's sports are football, basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, tennis and swimming and diving.