Title IX report shows funding inequality

The University spent more than twice as much on nale than female sports programs last year, a new report says. Men's athletic teams at Penn spent more than two times what women's athletic teams did last year, while male athletes outnumbered female athletes by approximately 37 percent during the 1998-1999 academic year, according to Athletic Department records released in accordance with federal law. This year's Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act report indicated there were stark differences in both the number of male and female participants and the payscale for men's and women's team coaches. The report also revealed that men's sports make up nearly 80 percent of the Athletic Department's total revenue. The EADA report is released each year to ensure compliance with federal Title IX requirements of equal funding for men's and women's sports. The requirements were imposed as part of the Educational Amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This year's report stated that men's athletics programs at Penn -- which include the costly football and basketball teams -- spent $3.6 million last year, while generating $3.2 million in revenues from ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and alumni donations. In contrast, women's teams only raised about $372,000 while spending $1.8 million, the report said. Athletic Department officials said the disparities should decrease in coming years and that even though women may not have the same level of funding, the University is committed to meeting whatever needs there are on the part of female athletes. "The way the athletes are treated is not different for men and women," Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. "I think we have parity [but] I think there are things that I would like to see us do better." According to Bilsky, Penn experiences the same problem most other universities across the nation experience: Men's sports are simply more popular than women's. But Bilsky said the Athletic Department is actively trying to combat that imbalance through a two-pronged approach aimed at increasing attendance at games and alumni donations. "We're trying to increase the number of supporters, which will then ultimately increase the number of givers," Bilsky said. "We're doing special fundraisers targeted specifically for women's athletics and I think we'll have some success." Additionally, the Athletic Department is actively trying to increase attendance at all Penn athletic events by promoting one spotlight game for each sport this year. Alumni giving to women's sports is far below that of men because men's sports have a longer history and therefore more alumni from which to draw. "On the revenue side, one of the major reasons for that discrepancy is that many of the women's sports? really took off with the advent of Title IX in 1972," Bilsky said. "We're [only now] really reaping that year of women alumnae." Bilsky also said the Athletic Department is trying to increase the number of women athletes to reach equity without making cuts in men's sports. "Many schools in the country have dropped men's sports, but that's not the Ivy philosophy," he said. Women have had the chance to add more varsity athletes to the mix this decade with the introduction of a women's varsity soccer team in 1991 and a women's golf team this year. With those additions, the number of women's varsity sports now numbers 15, compared to 18 men's teams, Bilsky said. According to Bilsky, some of the major discrepancies in participation and spending between male and female athletics stem from the size and cost of Penn's huge football team, which has no female equivalent. It represents 11 percent of Penn's athletes while costing almost $1.3 million a year. Even where male and female sports can be compared there are clear disparities. The average salary of a men's head coach was $62,556, compared to $47,517 for a women's coach. The widest salary disparity was between the two basketball head coaches. Eleventh-year men's basketball head coach Fran Dunphy, the highest paid Penn coach last year, made $143,627 last year for his coaching duties. Julie Soriero, his counterpart on the women's team who resigned last season after 10 years at Penn, made $68,006 in her final year. Bilsky explained that the differences were due to the time and energy needed for the job as well as past experience but that all those decisions were made by the University's Division of Human Resources. There was a large discrepancy in the recruiting budget for men's and women's teams, most noticeably in basketball and lacrosse. The men's basketball team spent $51,229 on recruiting last year, while the women's team spent only $34,383. The men's and women's lacrosse teams spent $23,308 and $5,713, respectively, the report said. According to Bilsky, those discrepancies can be attributed to changes in coaching positions that were taking place last year on both the women's basketball and lacrosse teams.