Buffalo State’s Women’s Ice Hockey team ended its season on February 21, with a loss to number-three ranked RIT. Buffalo State had a rough first period, which gave way to freshman goaltender, Kelly Mendola, who stopped an amazing 38 shots in the next two periods, only giving up 2 goals.
She is one of 38 women getting the chance to play one of the two sports added by Buffalo State’s athletic program due to federal mandates.
What are these regulator laws? Who else better to ask than the Head Athletic Director at Buffalo State, Jerry Boyes?
“Simple answer to that is a law called Title 9,” said Boyes. “A great law.”
Title 9 regulates equality throughout all federally funded institutions. According to the Department of Labor’s website, Title 9 is an amendment to a 1972 Educational Amendment. The new amendment states, that there cannot be an imbalance in the total number of a single-sex receiving the benefits of a federally funded program. What that means for National Collegiate Athletic programs, there can’t be more male athletes getting the chance to participate in sporting programs than women.
Boyes has seen Buffalo State cut the Men’s Golf and Men’s Baseball teams out of the athletic program, in order to stay in compliance with the Title 9 law. He also has been a part of bringing the Women’s Ice Hockey and Lacrosse teams to Buffalo State, as well. These two added sports teams make up the group of 38 women that are giving the opportunity to participate in the athletic program each year, and gave Mendola her chance to shine. It’s give-and-take.
“The law forces schools and colleges to be fair,” he said. Out of the 382 athletes, the men appear to make up a smaller part of the athletic program at Buffalo State. However, they actually have 221 men participating in eight sports to the 161 women participating in 11 sports.
Title 9 doesn’t state that there has to be equal number of sports teams offered, just that there has to be equal number of opportunities to participate in sports programs.
Each roster spot, on every team, is an opportunity for a student athlete to participate in the program.
Boyes, head football coach, as well said, that at any one time, he can have 85 to 100 men participating on the football team. That is 85 to 100 opportunities for male athletes that women athletes don’t get since there is no women’s football team. Buffalo State had to offset those by creating other sporting opportunities for the women to stay in compliance with the law.
It would make sense that Buffalo State would be moving more towards equality in sports with regards to women, when taking into account the actual population of the college. Last semester there were 5,548 undergraduate, female students and only 4,813 undergraduate men.
“Experience for our student athletes is the main thing,” he says.
He said the end product is an athlete’s ability to achieve success and have a greater experience at Buffalo State. Boyes said he hopes that in the end this will lead to the ultimate success of each sports team at Buffalo State.
“We're not completely there with regards to having equal number of men as to equal number of women opportunities yet, to have that is a real challenge, but that’s our goal,” Boyes acknowledged.
Colleges don’t have to be completely equal, just the fact that they have proven that they’re progressing towards equality, colleges can stay within compliance of the law, Boyes states. However, if the Office for Civil Rights review boards finds that colleges are violating Title IX laws, or a plaintiff brings a lawsuit against an institution, monetary reimbursement, as well as punitive damages can be awarded, according to Gail F. Maloney, Senior Associate Athletics Director at Buffalo State.
The most important case, and the first to award punitive damages, was Franklin vs. Gwinnett County Public Schools. She wasn’t able to give an exact number but said it was somewhere in the millions. She said that if the institution continues to violate the Title 9 law that it could lose all federal funding.
“No college has ever been on record for that strict of penalty,” she said.