As Kris noted recently, the University of California, Berkeley athletic department has been considering eliminating sports as a cost-reduction measure. So it is sadly no surprise that the Chancellor has announced that baseball, men's and women's gymnastics, women's lacrosse, and men's rugby will be no longer be varsity sports. Men's rugby will occupy a new "varsity club" status.
I have a couple of questions about whether this decision complies with Title IX. First, what is varsity club status? It seems like the rugby team will continue to receive some university support -- more than the club teams receive but not as much as varsity teams receive. Title IX does not preclude Cal from making up new status labels for its sports, but those labels must be equitably applied. If a women's sport asks for "varsity club" status, I cannot see the grounds on which Cal would deny them.
Second, I have concerns that the resulting distribution of athletic opportunities complies with Title IX. Before the cuts, Cal could have claimed compliance with prong two or prong three, but eliminating women's teams forecloses that option. This leaves prong one: substantial proportionality. As Kris noted in her earlier post, Cal's women received about 41% of the total athletic opportunities (385/948), despite constituting about 53% of the student body. After the cuts, they still receive about 41% (385-45/948-102*). There is no way a 12 percentage points qualifies as substantial proportionality, so my question is, on what basis is Cal making that claim?
* This denominator figure is adjusted by the loss of both gymnastics teams, baseball, and lacrosse. I did not subtract the 60 terminated opportunities in rugby from the denominator because Cal's EADA report did not include men's rugby when calculating the total number of athletic opportunities.
Showing posts with label rugby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rugby. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Qunnipiac Adds Rugby and Golf
The AP is reporting that Quinnipiac University filed its court-mandated Title IX compliance plan in federal court, in which it announced its decision to keep women's volleyball through 2011-12, s well as to add golf and rugby in order to balance women's athletic opportunities with men's. Quinnipiac will also retain its competitive cheer team -- renamed "stunts and tumbling" -- even though these opportunities do not (yet) count towards the university's Title IX compliance under the district court's recent ruling.
Qunnipiac's choice to add rugby is an interesting one. The NCAA designated rugby an "emerging sport" in 2002, as part of its initiative to support colleges' efforts to add athletic opportunities for women. The emerging sport designation means that sport will obtain national championship if 40 schools (across all three divisions) add the sport by 2012. In the meanwhile, opportunities added in that sport count toward NCAA requirements, as well as enjoy the presumption of counting as a varsity opportunity for Title IX purposes. Emerging sport status has successfully launched women's championships in sports like ice hockey and rowing, but rugby may not be following the same path. Though there is a widespread interest in rugby among female students, there is less interest from within the sport, which has a strong tradition of independence, to submit to institutional control. As a result, rugby has made slow progress towards the "4o by 2012" benchmark. By my count, Quinnipiac is only the sixth school overall, and the second in Division I, to add rugby as a varsity sport. If rugby loses its emerging sport status in 2012, Quinnipiac could potentially have two women's teams (stunts & tumbling and rugby) that do not count for Title IX purposes. We can only guess what effect this would have on the university's overall compliance strategy.
Qunnipiac's choice to add rugby is an interesting one. The NCAA designated rugby an "emerging sport" in 2002, as part of its initiative to support colleges' efforts to add athletic opportunities for women. The emerging sport designation means that sport will obtain national championship if 40 schools (across all three divisions) add the sport by 2012. In the meanwhile, opportunities added in that sport count toward NCAA requirements, as well as enjoy the presumption of counting as a varsity opportunity for Title IX purposes. Emerging sport status has successfully launched women's championships in sports like ice hockey and rowing, but rugby may not be following the same path. Though there is a widespread interest in rugby among female students, there is less interest from within the sport, which has a strong tradition of independence, to submit to institutional control. As a result, rugby has made slow progress towards the "4o by 2012" benchmark. By my count, Quinnipiac is only the sixth school overall, and the second in Division I, to add rugby as a varsity sport. If rugby loses its emerging sport status in 2012, Quinnipiac could potentially have two women's teams (stunts & tumbling and rugby) that do not count for Title IX purposes. We can only guess what effect this would have on the university's overall compliance strategy.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
NCAA Welcomes Women's Rugby
ESPN.com reported recently on the first ever NCAA women's rugby match, which took place last weekend between West Chester and Eastern Illinois. Rugby is on the NCAA's list of emerging sports for women, which means it has 10 years to attract 40 teams. Barring an extension, rugby has four years left to add 36 more teams. If it does, it becomes a full-fledged NCAA sport with an NCAA-sponsored championship. Otherwise, it's off the list.
The NCAA is hoping that rugby succeeds and is encouraging many of the hundreds of existing club-level teams to elevate to varsity status. Advocates for NCAA women's rugby point out that the sport creates lots of participation opportunities and it's relatively inexpensive, which should make it attractive to athletic administrators seeking gender equity. They also say that it's fun sport to play and to watch, which makes it easy to attract participants and fans.
Interestingly, however, many women ruggers want nothing to do with the NCAA. They enjoy the flexibility and freedom of being unregulated club teams. Joining the NCAA means, for example, being limited to one game a week, which conflicts with the rugby tradition of weekend-long tournaments at which teams play two or three games. Also, NCAA-governed competition could not end with a post-match, inter-squad "social," which for some players, is part of what makes the sport of rugby different and special.
Still, many point out that the advantages of varsity status -- access to financing, equipment, facilities and medical personnel -- outweigh the sacrifices that come with submitting to the NCAA's rules. The NCAA seems genuinely invested in growing this sport, so perhaps it will be willing compromise on some of the rules that are making varsity status so unattractive to players. Obviously there's no way they'll sanction drinking after the game, but the one-game-a-week rule might be a good place to start.
The NCAA is hoping that rugby succeeds and is encouraging many of the hundreds of existing club-level teams to elevate to varsity status. Advocates for NCAA women's rugby point out that the sport creates lots of participation opportunities and it's relatively inexpensive, which should make it attractive to athletic administrators seeking gender equity. They also say that it's fun sport to play and to watch, which makes it easy to attract participants and fans.
Interestingly, however, many women ruggers want nothing to do with the NCAA. They enjoy the flexibility and freedom of being unregulated club teams. Joining the NCAA means, for example, being limited to one game a week, which conflicts with the rugby tradition of weekend-long tournaments at which teams play two or three games. Also, NCAA-governed competition could not end with a post-match, inter-squad "social," which for some players, is part of what makes the sport of rugby different and special.
Still, many point out that the advantages of varsity status -- access to financing, equipment, facilities and medical personnel -- outweigh the sacrifices that come with submitting to the NCAA's rules. The NCAA seems genuinely invested in growing this sport, so perhaps it will be willing compromise on some of the rules that are making varsity status so unattractive to players. Obviously there's no way they'll sanction drinking after the game, but the one-game-a-week rule might be a good place to start.
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