COLUMN: The most important issue at Penn is?

Title IX Title IX is a touchy issue everywhere, especially at Penn, but the Athletic Department here deserves hearty commendation for the steps it has taken to rectify an egregious situation. The Penn baseball team deserves great respect, especially after making it to last year's College World Series regionals before losing two close games. The baseball team does not receive half the recognition afforded its football and basketball counterparts, yet all three teams won their respective conference titles in 1994-95. Last week, DP sports columnist Nick Hut blamed Title IX for the lack of a new locker room for the baseball team. But the real question with respect to constructing a locker room for the team is not whether it would have tilted expenditures heavily towards men's sports, but why it was impossible to build one for less than $500,000! Perhaps it was "bad timing" that caused the demise of the locker room plans, but if women athletes here are not receiving their fair share, there is no time like the present to begin the equity process. The "facility disparities" cited in the 1994 women's coaches complaint is far too simplistic a term. Among other discrepancies, there was a severe lack of full-time assistant women's coaches and women's teams were forced to ride in vans driven by their coaches while the men had chauffeured buses. Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie-Femovich's comment in Hut's column, about how to measure compliance, is also off the mark. Gender equity is not achieved through the formation of "trading places happily" with "comparable other-sex program[s]." Such a scheme makes it impossible to measure the budgets for the women's gymnastics and field hockey teams, as well as the men's wrestling and football squads. If the threat of lawsuits aimed at athletic departments is sufficient to keep them from spoiling the men, so be it. If a school is unable to adhere to an NCAA-sanctioned policy, then a lawsuit that forces it to do so is welcome. In terms of facilities "definitely needed," that judgement is wholly subjective. I am certain that every single athlete at Penn could provide a laundry list of facilities their teams "definitely need." Should an individual wish to donate money to a specific sport, he or she should be allowed to do so. Just imagine how the academic bankroll would appear if Walter Annenberg's millions were dispersed to every department on campus. Penn has made great strides to come to the aid, both financial and otherwise, of its female athletes, but its efforts are only a beginning. The Athletic Department should continue its dedication, extending it as far as humanly and monetarily possible. Additionally, the Penn media can take steps of their own to promote gender equity via more balanced coverage of male and female sports. Referring to Title IX, Hut stated that "A good thing can be taken too far." On the contrary: Title IX is a great thing, and it has not yet been taken far enough. Jon Teitel is a senior Communications major from Phoenix, Ariz. He recently completed a term as sports director of UTV13. What do you think the most important issue at Penn is? Send submissions of 500 words or less to issue@dp.upenn.edu.