Article "Women's athletics: the equality controversy"

Article "Women's athletics: the equality controversy"

This article investigates the question of equality in athletics at the University of Richmond. In particular, it explores several cases in which sex discrimination in athletics is evident. The writer states that “the women’s basketball team is occasionally cheered on by the freshman cheering squad, the Aquanettes [the female synchronized swimming team] hand letter their own publicity posters, and Sports information didn’t take routine photos of the lacrosse or field hockey teams last year.” She interviews Peg Hogan, the Aquanettes’ coach, who explains that only one student, Susan Ellis, is on a $2,000 scholarship, and according to the Assistant Athletic Director, Ruth Goehring, after Ellis graduates there will be no more recipients for such aid. This is a situation that greatly concerns Ellis who states that “we are going to lose a lot of good Aquanettes.” The article emphasizes that UR’s synchronized swimming team beat the no. 1 ranked team from Florida in the NICA competition. Similarly, the field hockey and lacrosse coach, Janet Grubbs, stated that the team’s budget was “adequate, not exceptional.” She complained about Sports information, given that they were not doing a good job with publicity in all sports. Moreover, Richmond’s Women Volleyball Club had been trying to achieve team status since 1981, according to Greer Raetz, team member. Ruth Goehring commented on the situation by saying that the female volleyball players were not good enough to play other NCAA teams. Lastly, the article mentions that the Women’s Athletic Council sent a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education in Washington stating that “alumni, faculty, students, and parents of students have shown their concern for the women’s athletic program which is suffering as a result of discrimination.” This falls under the jurisdiction of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded institutions. The complaint sparked an investigation by the Department of Education, which was followed by a lawsuit from the university claiming that they did not receive federal funds in athletics. The article explains that the university won the suit but an investigation into discrimination in athletics at UR was never conducted.

Ladd, Ann. "Women's Athletics: the equality controversy."The University of Richmond Collegian XLIX, no. 21, (March 24, 1983): 3,7. https://collegian.richmond.edu/cgi-bin/richmond?a=d&d=COL19830324.2.10&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-

The Collegian, University of Richmond

1983-03-04

English

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Richmond (Va.)