Women’s athletics get the cold shoulder
This is a column that could probably run on the sports page. But it fits better here.
With the recent visit by an NCAA recertification team, CMU was told it must add another women’s sport by 2010.
CMU continues to maintain that Title IX is important to the institution, and officials say they will strive to improve the opportunities for women athletes on campus.
But is CMU really as supportive of the historic equal rights legislation as it claims to be? Doubtful.
A recent look into how women’s sports have been treated reveals the truth behind the matter.
Kelly/Shorts Stadium was in dire need of a new playing surface heading into last season.
There were visible tears and divots in the turf, and safety was becoming an issue.
So after the Board of Trustees approved $639,000, and bids for the job began pouring in. However, it was in the final stages of decisions that CMU sealed its fate.
The Athletics Department had its sights on two different types of synthetic grass surfaces. Both had a similar rubber and sand base.
And with that narrow vision, CMU began digging its own Title IX grave.
With the synthetic surface selection CMU’s field hockey team no longer had a place to play because the NCAA mandates that Division I field hockey be played on Astroturf.
But the important fact that people quickly forgot was that there never was a plan for the field hockey team until after FieldTurf was approved for installation.
Longtime coach Cristy Freese was told her team could play all its games on the road or they could play at a nearby facility with turf.
But all was saved when All Mighty Athletics Director Herb Deromedi (sarcastic emphasis added) came to the rescue and asked the trustees for funding for a new field hockey facility.
The board took the Athletics Department’s bait – hook, line and sinker, and a new field hockey complex was approved.
Except the field hockey team was given the shaft once again when construction went longer than expected, and three of the team’s seven home games were played in East Lansing.
Now in its second season on the field, Freese’s team doesn’t even have adequate stands and CMU’s athletics Web site, www.cmuchippewas.com, still says the team plays at Kelly/Shorts.
A new $650,000 field was built, but that is where the perks ended for the field hockey team.
Problems for women’s sports don’t end there. The gymnastics team recently had to cut two competitions from its schedule because it didn’t have enough funding.
And it isn’t like the team isn’t trying.
Coach Jerry Reighard has his gymnasts out selling raffle tickers for $10 during tailgating and home football games.
And now another women’s sport must be added.
Hopefully all involved with the new sport don’t get the cold shoulder that is becoming all too familiar for women’s athletics at CMU.
Dominic Adams can be reached for comment at news@cm-life.com.
