Uneven spending in athletic department (Photo by Stacy Seebode, The Daily Campus)

Sarah Davis is dedicated to one thing – women’s basketball at SMU.

But since her freshman year, Davis said she and her teammates have not received the same amount of sweat suits, long-sleeve T-shirts or per diem (money for food on game days) as their male counterparts.

“We get stuff we have to have, they [the men] get stuff they want,” Davis said.

Gender equality in athletics has improved. However, glaring inequalities remain.

For every dollar spent on female athletes, male athletes receive almost two. According to the 2005-2006 SMU Athletics Disclosure Act, officials spent about $12.4 million on men, compared to almost $6.4 million on women.

Davis is outraged by the large imbalance between male and female athletes.

“It makes me very angry that the male athletes are getting more money,” Davis said. “All the money raised for SMU athletics should go into one account and be split up evenly.”

SMU athletic officials are aware of the problem.

“That is a major element we’re working on for the next ten years,” said John Koerner, senior associate athletic director for business.

Records show that SMU has made progress in addressing this imbalance. In 1996, the university spent about $2.4 million on male athletes, compared with just $662,340 for female athletes.

Much of the impetus for this change was the result of Title IX, the landmark federal act in 1972, which prohibited educational institutions from discriminating against females.

In terms of athletics, Title IX requires schools receiving federal funds to equally divide spending and scholarships between men and women. The law also applies to medical care, training facilities, equipment, supplies and publicity.

SMU is not the only school struggling to comply with Title IX regulations.

According to a USA Today article published in 2005, many NCAA Division I schools spend more funding on men’s sports than women’s sports, particularly football. Schools such as Gonzaga, Boston College and Georgetown are in the same boat as SMU.

A Problem Prolonged

A little over 20 years ago, Barb Totzke, then a post for the SMU women’s basketball team, saw the same problems as Davis, but with a difference.

“Back in the early ’80s, we didn’t have the same expectations,” said Totzke, associate athletic director and senior associate athletic director who has worked in SMU athletics for 11 years. “If the men wanted a certain time in the weight room, they got it.”

When Title IX was first introduced, Totzke felt it was constructed to address issues of inequity.

Since her last jump shot, Totzke’s opinion on Title IX has changed. She sees Title IX as an opportunity for athletes and wants to see athletic participation proportionally reflect the student body make-up.

In the past decade, Totzke’s vision of proportionate representation has slowly evolved.

In 1996, men represented almost 70 percent of athletics, while they comprised only 47 percent of undergraduate enrollment. Today, SMU has 45.8 percent male undergraduates and 54.2 percent female undergraduates, but athletics participation is reversed with 54 percent (221) men and 46 percent (196) women.

The SMU Athletic Department wants to equalize the undergraduate ratio and the athletic participation ratio.

In order to balance athletic participation, SMU now has four female sports teams with no male equivalent. In fall 2004, women’s equestrian was added in order to complement football in addition to the elimination of the men’s track team in May 2004. These changes were made to comply with NCAA regulations regarding Title IX.

However, some female athletes say the drive to put athletics on an equal footing has served to dilute some individual sports.

“I know they [SMU Athletic Department] are trying to increase the number of females on the teams, but women’s golf functions better as a smaller team,” said Whitney Eckert, a junior on the women’s golf team.

Currently, there are eight women on the golf team. Last spring, the athletic department was hoping to increase the size of team to 12 to 15 golfers. According to Eckert, only five females can play in golf matches, and adding more female golfers is taking scholarship money away from current golfers.

“There’s a lot of push to increase funding in women’s sports,” Koerner said. “Division I schools voted the proposal to increase the number of scholarships in women’s sports down last year … instead of creating a whole new infrastructure for a new sport.”

Koerner reaffirmed the university is funded at the NCAA limits. SMU allots the maximum number of scholarships permitted by the NCAA for each sport, both male and female.

Down the Road

Due to the restrictions within Title IX, females face a greater challenge: football, which has no female counterpart.

Many female athletes know football isn’t going anywhere — it’s their worst enemy and their best friend.

Nnenna Ejefiene, a freshman on the track and field team, constantly witnesses the football team getting special treatment in comparison to other sports, especially women’s.

She recalls she and her teammates leaving at 6 a.m. the day of a track meet.

“Football players get to leave the day before a game and stay at a hotel even if their game is down the street,” Ejefiene said. “You’re supposed to sleep in the day before your track meet.”

Koni Overstreet, assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator, believes football carries a heavy weight in athletics.

“Every university knows if you have a football team with a lot of fans, you’ll get a lot of funding for other programs,” Overstreet said. “Until they [NCAA] get football out of the equation, you’ll never see a woman’s sport that can equal it.”

Many female athletes and students agree that SMU football is the athletic department’s primary focus.

“Football takes up so much funding. It [football] is king,” senior psychology major Omar Ahmad said. He attributes poor attendance at other athletic events to a culture that is obsessed with football.

Nonetheless, Jason Rall, senior engineering major, believes football is imperative.

“If we didn’t have football, we wouldn’t have women’s athletics,” Rall said, “It all stems from two big sports, football and men’s basketball – once they start winning, the other sports will get support – more money, a bigger budget and more recruits.”

When the football team is winning, the other SMU athletic teams reap the benefits.

“The more money football gets, the more money we [women’s basketball] gets,” Davis said. But, Davis is still not pleased.

Davis agrees that a winning football program will help women’s athletics. But, in the meantime, she wants to see female athletes at SMU get more respect.

Ejefiene is also disappointed with the lack of publicity and poor marketing.

“No one in the athletic department is even there [attending other sporting events besides football],” Ejefiene said.

Koerner confesses that he sees a little truth in her observation.

“As a staff [athletic department] this year, we’ve made a concentrated effort to attend all sports activities – we’re trying to work on it [attendance],” Koerner said.

Ejefiene was surprised to see The Daily Campus put a story about the football team’s losing streak on the front page when the men’s soccer team beat UCLA (then ranked 5th in the nation) at the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Former SMU athlete Totzke has high hopes for the future as well.

“There’s got to be change other than just throwing dollars at it,” Totze said. “Title IX shouldn’t depend on how many people are in the stands.”