When St. Cloud State University announced last month it was dropping football, fans, students, athletes and alums debated the wisdom of that move as a strategy to save money and work toward gender equity in sports.
Many universities tie their branding to high-profile, successful teams, but the debate over football misses a more important point: the university has failed miserably to offer equal opportunities, treatment and benefits to its female athletes.
Last summer, a federal judge ruled the university must take immediate steps to bring gender equity to its athletic programs as required by Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in programs that receive federal funds. The university will eliminate football as well as men’s and women’s golf in moves intended to ease financial pressures and comply with federal rules balancing men’s and women’s athletics. The university said it would also add men’s soccer, which is much cheaper than football.
Read the federal court ruling.
Traditionally, school spirit and emotion played big parts in college football’s 150-year history. A successful sports program brings the entire university national attention. We don’t need to look far for examples. How many people outside of Minnesota would know about St. John’s University without its 60-year history of national championship play? Until St. Cloud State entered Division I hockey and achieved top rankings year after year, excellence in Minnesota hockey equaled Gophers, not Huskies. Minnesota’s football bowl victory over Auburn, watched by a national television audience, delivered marketing worth millions of dollars.
As important as sports are to a university’s brand, its values are more important. I’m a graduate of St. Cloud State, I was an adjunct faculty member for many years and I’ve reported about the university since my days on the campus newspaper. Because of my history with the university, I was truly embarrassed when I read the federal court ruling.
Trial testimony uncovered many failures going back years. The evidence not only showed the university failed to provide equity, but administrators tried to game the system by directing coaches to cut or increase rosters to meet equity goals.
Why did anybody think these actions were good ideas?
• Basketball Coach Lori Fish testified her ideal roster was 13 players, but she was told to list 18. She testified she typically plays eight athletes and with a roster of 18, not everyone will get playing time.
• Baseball Coach Pat Dolan said he dropped early season nonconference games to delay the date of the first competition (when roster numbers are set) to give him more time to pare down his roster to the 37-player limit.
• Meanwhile, Softball Coach Paula U’Ren was told to do the opposite by Holly Schreiner, St. Cloud State’s assistant athletic director for compliance and student services. When the team ended up with fewer athletes than the minimum, Schreiner directed U’Ren to try out more players and cut them later.
• Schreiner told the coach of St. Cloud State’s national champion wrestling team, Steve Costanza, that he could add players after she filed her compliance reports and those new players would not count against the roster cap.
• During home games, the women’s basketball team uses public restrooms near the gym because the ones in the locker room are on another floor and too far away. Players and coaches line up with spectators to use the facilities.
• At Selke Field, U’Ren was told to use a fire hose to water the grass. Prior to bringing in recruits, U’Ren weeds the infield.
• Although male and female athletes are served by the same training staff, the trainers have offices in the men’s locker room.
• St. Cloud State did not conduct formal interviews with students, coaches or administrators from 1984 to the present and the university did not research high school, community or amateur participation in sports. Heather Weems, who has been athletics director since 2012, did not have any knowledge about any unmet interest and abilities of female students.
These examples and additional findings in the ruling document is why Judge John Tunheim ordered the university to take immediate action.
While St. Cloud State’s enrollment dropped from 12,050 in 2011 to 8,506 in 2017, Tunheim wrote that financial challenges are not reasons for exceptions to Title IX.
St. Cloud State’s leaders, past and present have repeatedly dropped the ball on issues of gender equity in sports. Allowing years of unequal treatment of female athletes and then gaming the system to show compliance is a far bigger fumble than ending football.
