Features
Jane Possee found herself in unfamiliar territory in 1975. A graduate of the all-female Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Possee had arrived to coach women鈥檚 athletics at Rochester, a campus where the male-to-female ratio was 2-to-1.
Male athletes had easy access for five to six practices a week in the alumni gym, which boasted the Palestra, an indoor track, and a field house, while the women generally practiced just three times a week with part-time coaches in Spurrier Gym鈥攚ith wooden backboards, no bleachers for spectators, and no scoreboard.
Now the associate director of athletics and recreation at Rochester, Possee had long recognized the role that athletics could play in the lives of students. An athlete since high school, she had played basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, and badminton at Skidmore. Hired to coach the Yellowjackets women鈥檚 basketball and women鈥檚 field hockey teams, she started the women鈥檚 lacrosse team as well.
As she did so, she began to ask for changes.
鈥淢aybe I was a little upstart, but I had no issues raising those questions as standards of what women should have because that鈥檚 all I knew,鈥� says Possee, who also taught optional physical education classes. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anyone was necessarily keeping anything from us on purpose. I just don鈥檛 think they completely envisioned what it entailed to provide for a women鈥檚 program.鈥�
Over the past four decades, much has changed at Rochester and other campuses when it comes to athletic opportunities, thanks to leaders like Possee. Some changes were small鈥攁 few of Possee鈥檚 early requests included a scoreboard and glass basketball backboards for Spurrier Gym and pregame training tables for the women, support that the men had long had.
But powered by their sense of fair play and backed by Title IX, a 1972 federal law, Possee and other pioneering sports administrators have seen remarkable changes when it comes to the equitable distribution of athletic resources at universities since the early 1970s. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Title IX, an amendment to federal education law that doesn鈥檛 even mention the words 鈥渁thletics鈥� or 鈥渟ports,鈥� has become best known for opening doors to athletic opportunities for female students.
Signed in June 1972 by President Richard Nixon, the first section of the landmark legislation reads: 鈥淣o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.鈥�
Intended to ban sexual discrimination in most federally funded educational programs, the law has transformed women鈥檚 athletics, a transformation that can be seen at Rochester. In 2012, the undergraduate enrollment is evenly divided among men and women, Rochester has 12 varsity women鈥檚 teams鈥攐ne more than the number of varsity men鈥檚 teams鈥攁nd the Yellowjackets regularly compete for national titles in NCAA Division III athletics.
George VanderZwaag, the University鈥檚 director of athletics and recreation, says Title IX has been a guidepost for much more than decisions about how to field teams or develop athletics programs.
鈥淥bviously we have to meet the letter of the law, but the larger goals of gender equity are much more important than that, and at the end of the day we鈥檙e trying to do the right thing by our students,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat sets us apart from many other institutions in this country is that we鈥檙e running an educationally purposeful athletics program, not a commercial entertainment enterprise.鈥�
The changes that resulted from Title IX 鈥渃learly allowed our women to grow personally, compete at a very high level, and push themselves to be strong leaders and teammates,鈥� says Possee, who was part of the New York State chapter of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which at the national level was the equivalent of the NCAA for men. She served in that role until the NCAA took over the AIAW in 1982, when she continued to participate on several championship committees within the NCAA.
By that time, the alumni gym was being used by both genders for practice, and men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams started traveling together to out-of-town games.
The 1980s also brought a tremendous shift in attitude toward women鈥檚 athletics, says Terry Gurnett 鈥�77, associate director for advancement for athletics and recreation, who coached women鈥檚 soccer from 1977 to 2010.
The players on his early teams had no exposure to female role models in their sport. When the women won the inaugural women鈥檚 Division III title in 1986 and came home as champions again in 1987, they earned a level of interest and respect they鈥檇 never known before.
鈥淚t was a great awakening,鈥� says Gurnett, a former Yellowjacket soccer player himself who finished as the winningest women鈥檚 soccer coach in Division III history, and as the third winningest coach in all divisions. As more women pursued athletic opportunities, female and male athletes were quick to realize that 鈥渋t was OK for women to get out there and sweat and compete.鈥�
Gurnett says that for Rochester, offering ample opportunities for women athletes has been a matter of economics as well. Increasingly, female students won鈥檛 consider colleges or universities that have an inadequate number of sports teams to choose from.
While Title IX has brought about historic changes, it has not been without controversy. The legislation has been criticized nationally in some quarters for contributing to a reduction in programs for male athletes as some universities and colleges work to achieve equity. Colleen Doyle 鈥�09W (EdD), a former Rochester women鈥檚 lacrosse and field hockey coach who specializes in the study of Title IX as a faculty member at SUNY Brockport, says the law has also had its share of 鈥渟cary times鈥� when advocates have had to fend off efforts to weaken its provisions or its enforcement.
鈥淚 want to make it quite clear that women have had to fight for every right that we have,鈥� Doyle says.
But as VanderZwaag sees it, Title IX has been 鈥渁 huge success story鈥� and a critical tool in bridging the gender gap in athletics. Even so, he acknowledges the challenge in going beyond the prescription of the law to capture its spirit.
鈥淔rankly, it鈥檚 a tough standard to meet because it鈥檚 a moving target,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always going to have to adapt. But if we want to do this well, we can鈥檛 get too comfortable.鈥�
Robin L. Flanigan is a Rochester-based freelance writer.