UC Berkeley saves rugby, women's lacrosse, women's gymnastics, still cut baseball/men's gym

[alp227]

In a controversy over meeting Title IX equality requirements under a tightening budget, UC Berkeley has announced that it can keep women's lacrosse and gymnastics as well as rugby while cutting men's gymnastics and baseball.

...the campus received $12 million to $13 million in philanthropic pledges from the organizers of the fundraising efforts. Of that total, the campus is confident that at least $8 million will be available to support the net expenses of women’s lacrosse, women’s gymnastics and rugby. This new and incremental philanthropy gives the university the confidence that these three teams will cover their costs for at least the next seven to 10 years.

The New York Times reported two days ago about Berkeley's conflict with Title IX:

Last year, a university committee took the department to task for inefficient spending and lax fund-raising, but did not make recommendations about whether to cut any teams. In the end, Cal officials decided against across-the-board reductions to all teams and opted for a much more forceful statement: to eliminate four athletic teams and to demote men’s rugby to varsity club status, a new category.

This situation is not the first time the university has struggled to demonstrate a commitment to gender equity. In 2007, the university settled a lawsuit filed by an administrator who claimed she was laid off in retaliation for complaining about the treatment of women in the athletic department. Cal has also turned down an application by the women’s club rugby team for varsity status, despite the fact that it offered a men’s varsity team and that rugby is recognized as an emerging sport for women by the N.C.A.A.

Cal’s 40 percent female participation rate places it behind other Pacific-10 Conference members, including Stanford, Southern California and U.C.L.A., according to numbers the universities reported to the federal Education Department.

I guess that true equality is very very hard to achieve isn't it?

[Botany]

1. I hope they keep men's rugby too

[msongs]

2. or just dump intercollegiate games.. and go to intramurals. nt

[bluestateguy]

3. Football may be the culprit.

I'm guessing here that football makes it hard to comply with Title IX AND have various other men's sports. Football is very expensive, and there really is no female counterpart. So if you want to have a football program and comply with Title IX, many men's sports will get axed.

[alp227]

4. yeah that's what i thought, as there must be equal amount of athletes by gender

[exboyfil]

5. Actually I get the UC Berkeley

football is actually a net generator of income. At most schools Football and Men's Basketball are the cash cows for the sports department. The problem with Title 9 is that it expects to mandate an equality of outcome on what is, in part, a market driven force. Why shouldn't revenue generating sports be excluded from Title 9, and the pie of available spots be divided up among men and women on the remaining sports (still using the cash cow).

Actually if a dime of general revenue is used for the sport's departments, then I think varsity sports should get the axe. The general fund sent to the sports teams at our local university represents $350/student/year. With a 5% increase in tuition this year and absolutely no aid for anyone but the very poorest or the very smartest, why should they ask the students to reach into their pockets for $350?

[dannward]

7. Football and MBB are the only sports that make money @Cal

At Cal (and probably at other schools) only Football and Men's Basketball are profitable. (Men's Rugby is essentially break-even.)

When some members of the faculty bemoan the money spent on Football, they ignore the inconvenient fact that without the football program, there would be no intercollegiate sports at Cal.

The IA department has traditionally run a net deficit of roughly 10M/year, with the shortfall paid by the Chancellor's discretionary budget. Given the ever-tightening budget for California, the University wants to eliminate the Chancellor's subsidy of IA.

The first draft of the plan eliminated five sports, including Baseball. It also included roster reductions for several men's sports to balance the gender opportunities as required by Title IX. Additionally, men's Rugby was to be removed from the IA budget by changing it to a "varsity club" team. Rugby would still not offer scholarships, would fund itself, and would be removed from the Title IX equation.

The new plan keeps Rugby as an intercollegiate sport, most likely to appease the donors that have previously allowed Rugby to be break-even. But adding those men back into the Title IX mix undoubtedly required reinstating the women's Lacrosse and Gymnastics teams.

The Cal fan base are still agitated about the loss of Baseball, but it is an expensive, money-losing, male sport. I really don't see how they could ever have reinstated Baseball.

[jmowreader]

8. Expense isn't football's only Title IX problem

There are three.

First is expense. We've discussed that.

Problem 2: a football team has sixty guys on it. It takes three or four women's sports to balance that.

And problem 3 is that women, in general, don't turn out for college athletics as heavily as men do. (This is why a lot of schools count the cheerleading squad as an athletic team--it is a case of We Have To Do Something To Counterbalance The Football Team!)

I think they should be allowed to exempt one men's sport from Title IX *if* it is providing substantial funding to the rest of the athletics department. They can't just restrict it to football because the basketball schools like Duke would start screaming. I don't know what "substantial" would be--maybe "pay all its own expenses plus provide at least 60 percent of the funding to the rest of the athletics program."

[boppers]

6. Here's a radical idea: Schools should teach, not sponsor sports.

Let the children's games fade into obscurity, rather than elevate them.

[RandomThoughts]

10. I agree those that think everything is about some profit.

or next bonus, or some domination over someone, should not be elevated.

On a side note.

I am still due beer and travel money and many experiences.

[Blue-Jay]

9. They cut baseball?

Gymnastics, I can understand. Not baseball.

Then again, it's not like I ever rescheduled anything to watch a UC Berkeley baseball game.