TASH MAHNOKAREN
Staff Writer
“Title IX is about opportunity” said Director of Athletics for Idaho State University Jeff Tingey.
While Title IX is often directed toward opportunity for women, it is in actuality opportunity for all.
Prior to its enactment in 1972, sports at the high school and collegiate level were largely non-existent for females.
“This law provided opportunities for women to participate in sports at the intercollegiate level and at the high school level” said Tingey.
Enacted by congress, Title IX now celebrates its 42nd year since being enacted. Although it is primarily known for allowing equal opportunities in sports for women, Title IX also allows for girls to pursue math and science, protects students from bullying and sexual harassment and promotes the equal treatment of pregnant and parenting students amid other things relating to gender and individual equity.
The reaches of Title IX resonate throughout college campuses across the nation and at Idaho State University.
It has allowed for equal opportunities for both women and the general student population.
The respective student ratio at ISU for male to female students being 49:51 is also an indication to the Athletics Department of ISU as to the number of scholarships that should be given out on gendered grounds.
In accordance to being an institution of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Title IX has allowed for the fairly recent creation of a women’s soccer and softball team at ISU, also in adherence to catering to the gender ratio.
“When I took over in 2007, with these teams, we still weren’t quite there and needed to add more scholarships through making sure that the teams we had existing were fully funded scholarship-wise” said Tingey.
Since then scholarships have been added to the golf, tennis, soccer and softball teams at ISU making them fully funded.
In a recent audit of the athletic department in the spring by the NCAA, ISU was compliant with two of the three requirements of Title IX, which were scholarships and opportunities for participation.
Institutional research at campuses across the nation including ISU compile data about popular sports among states and communities.
In Idaho and the Intermountain West, soccer was found to be a popular sport, thus bringing about the creation of the women’s soccer team.
Similarly, softball at the time was the fastest growing female sport in the nation bringing about its creation at ISU.
“We have been extremely successful in those two sports,” said Tingey.
Soccer, which has been around for 15 years this year at ISU, is also a member of the Big Sky Conference and has won five championships since, which according to Tingey is more than any other school in the conference.
Misguided perceptions of Title IX in the last 15-20 years, according to Tingey, often result in schools removing male sports related programs to comply with the enactment.
“Title IX is about providing more opportunities, not to take them away,” said Tingey, although ISU did drop its men’s golf program after the 2007-08 academic year. The decision was partly financial, cutting a full-time coach’s salary and benefits, and partly to address gender equity issues, removing 2.6 scholarships from the men’s side of the ledger.
In recent years, ISU has built new locker rooms for the women’s basketball, softball and volleyball team to provide better opportunities for athletes in addition to the construction of a softball stadium in the last three years among other new infrastructures.
