College releases EAD report
By Kimberley Lufkin
Flat Hat News Editor
The College released its Equity in Athletics Disclosure report last month, outlining operating expenses, expenditures, coaching assignments and participation for men's and women's athletic teams. And while in most cases men's teams comprise at least 60 percent of total expenditures, Director of Athletics Terry Driscoll said that this discrepancy is not the result of gender biases.
Released Oct. 15, the EAD reports that total expenditures for men's athletic teams during the 2000-2001 academic year totaled $720,747, which is 63.9 percent of total operating expenditures. Women's teams received $406,762, only 36.1 percent of the total. According to Driscoll, this disparity does not result in a difference of benefits for men's and women's teams.
"There are a number of different conditions that go into computing the general expenditures," Driscoll said. "It doesn't have to be dollar for dollar to be benefit for benefit."
According to Driscoll, a sport is allocated a certain amount of funds per year based on the amount of money it needs to remain competitive within its division. Costs such as equipment, transportation and coaches' salaries are factored into how much funding a team requires. Driscoll added that operating expenditures for men's teams comprise 63.9 percent of the total because of the costs associated with keeping the football team competitive within the Atlantic 10 are higher than keeping most other sports competitive within their respective divisions.
"The operating expenses are not based on the money a sport brings in," Driscoll said. "Each sport has a threshold of expense that it needs in order to have a quality program. Football has 90 players, and everything you do for football, like equipment and transportation costs, costs more than most teams."
Recruiting expenditures for men's teams were also higher than for women's teams. Of the funds spent on recruitment, 70.9 percent was allocated for men, while 29.1 percent was allocated for women. The total undergraduate population at the College, however is 43 percent male and 57 percent female.
Driscoll said that although over half of the undergraduate population is female and only 29.1 percent of the revenue was used to recruit female athletes, women's teams are still given the same benefits as men's teams.
"It's based on something more complex than a dollar for dollar equation," Driscoll said. "We have principles for gender equity and the goal is to continually move forward. We want to continually move forward and expand our opportunities for women without taking away from what already existed. That is a challenge because it all comes down to money."
According to sophomore women's track runner Ali Henderson, the men's track and field team actually receives less funding for recruitment than the women's team. She said she believes the disparity is the result of the massive amount of money spent on recruitment of football players.
"A large part of our recruiting goes towards football, but compared to the girl's track team, guys get very little funding," she said. "Track funding is actually fair when looking at the total population [of the College]."
The report also shows that 54.6 percent of student aid was awarded to male athletes last year, while 45.4 percent was awarded to female athletes.
The report additionally outlined coaching assignments and salaries for the 2000-2001 academic year. There is a disparity in salaries paid to male and female coaches.
The average salary of a head coach of a men's team is almost $1,600 more than a head coach of a women's team.
The average dollar amount per position paid to a men's team head coach is $51,849 per year, while the average for the head coach of a women's team is $36,293. Currently, there are a total of five male head coaches for women's teams (golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and cross country), yet, no females are employed as head coaches for men's teams.
According to field hockey Assistant Coach Quan Nim, this difference in salaries paid to head coaches of men's and women's teams ultimately creates unequal employment conditions.
"That doesn't seem fair," she said. "They should be receiving equal pay because they're doing the same work."
According to Driscoll, however, the difference in head coaches' salaries is a result of the need to recruit the best possible employees, and men's head coaches usually require more money than women's.
"Men's head coaches are not making more in every case," Driscoll said. "We're trying to find the very best coach, and we want to make sure that we have a certain amount of money to attract people."
Driscoll added that Title IX requires the College to provide the same benefits to men's and women's teams. As long as men's and women's teams are receiving the same benefits, the College is not required to spend the same amount of money on different teams each year.
