With the addition of softball, the NCAC now offers 22 sports at the varsity level. The 11 offerings for women is the fourth highest of all 88 NCAA conferences at three division levels. The College of Wooster has thus far declined to join, opting to form a club sports team first to determine the support for a varsity sport. If the demand is met, it could join the other NCAC schools in conference competition. "We would consider softball for varsity status," explained Wooster Athletic Director Robert Malekoff.
This leaves Wooster with 11 male varsity sports and 10 female. According to Title IX, equal opportunity must be made for equal demand, not necessarily equal number of participants or sports. "You don't have to have the same number of sports to be equitable," said Malekoff. As the second year athletic director sees it, football breaks the balance for equity since there is no comparable sport for females.
The budget making process at Wooster is one that "I think it's one of the more complex budgets on campus," said Malekoff. Unlike some schools that simply increase each departments' budget annually, Wooster operates on a zero based budget, indicating that each department must specify their requests by which the budget is based.
There is a great difficulty in comparing and contrasting NCAC athletic budgets, according to Malekoff. "Unless you look at them [budgets] over something like a five year period, it [a comparison] would be very skewed."
Numerous factors, such as uniform purchases, faculty size and team support determine the financial needs of the College. Money is delegated for the College departments by the vice president for academic affairs. From there the athletic director delegates the money for each sport.
Malekoff takes special aim to meet all the needs of each sport. "The only time we'll say no is when the bottom line doesn't equal the bottom line the College gives." Last year the College spent $356,752 on operating expenses. Of this total, 220,104 (61.7 percent) was distributed in male sports, compared to 136,648 (38.3 percent) for women. This includes transportation, lodging and meals, officials, uniforms and equipment for both home and away contests. In addition to operating expenses there are salaries of faculty, staff and interns which contribute to expenses.
If football is taken out of the picture, male sports received a more equitable 53.4 percent.
Men are more active at the varsity level of athletic participation. There were 282 male participants for the 1997-98 academic year and 197 female participants. The 85 athlete difference is accounted for by the existence of the football team, which was 94 members strong. Omitting football, females outnumbered male athletes by nine. This translates into $781 dollars per male athlete and $694 per female athlete.
One reason for the disparity is the existence of a men's junior varsity basketball team and an additional home tournament that costs money to stage. Once again, this is predicated on demand. "If the women wanted one, I'm not saying we wouldn't do it [sponsor a tournament]," said Malekoff.
There are several ways to look at financing. "It's difficult to determine what's real money leaving the College and what's going to another department." Unless detailed figures are made available, it becomes problematic to determine where the money goes, whether it is to recruiting, traveling or staff. For example, a football team with 90 plus members such as Wooster would spend much more on football than a school such as Kenyon with less than 60. The department might get more money, but use that extra on equipment and transportation. Other incidentals such as uniforms are funded differently by each college. "We try to replace uniforms for five schools a year instead of 15 getting them at once," said Malekoff. This might not be the case at other school.
With Case Western dropping out of the NCAC after the next academic year, softball might find it difficult to survive without other schools such as Wooster joining. One of the few conferences founded with a directive at promoting gender equality, the NCAC will have to continue the battle for equality.
The College of Wooster has other hurdles to overcome as well. It is one of the few NCAC members without an athletic recreation center and the issue has become more prevalent in the past two years with President Hales' Strategic Planning Committees evaluating the College's future priorities. "It would no doubt benefit the entire campus," said Malekoff, "not just athletic teams."
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 19, April 3, 1998
Contact us with your comments and suggestions.