Keeping the competitive edge in all of the University's 24 varsity sports can be a challenging prospect for the Athletic Department.
But lately the department has other concerns.
Recent increases in costs for coaching and recruiting costs have the department's budget running at a deficit, with a large portion of funding is being spent to improve the status of female athletes at the University, in compliance with Title IX.
Title IX, a section of the Educational Amendments of 1972 prohibited sex discrimination at educational institutions.
Although Title IX affects all areas of University life, including academics, it has especially been influential in the athletic realm. But implementing gender equity in athletics has been expensive and controversial.
Although it was enacted in 1972, universities have made slow progress toward implementing Title IX standards. In the 1990s, however, a series of lawsuits, mostly decided in favor of women, forced schools to comply, said Jane Miller, associate athletic director and senior woman administrator.
In reaction, other schools have had to be "more proactive than reactive" regarding gender equity, Miller said.
According to Miller, the University decided to be one of those proactive schools.
According to Title IX, the ratio of male to female athletes should be substantially proportional to the ratio of male to female students at the University.
To begin compliance with this rule, the University added a women's rowing team in the 1994-1995 academic year, making the number of women's and men's teams equal at 12 sports each. By adding approximately 65 athletes, the University made the percentage of women athletes at the University more closely resemble the percentage of women in the University.
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When rowing coach Kevin Sauer first came to the University in 1988, both the men's and women's rowing teams were club sports. Sauer wanted the department to promote both teams to varsity status.
Because of Title IX, the men's team was not promoted to varsity status along with the women. The men's rowing team remains a club sport today.
Although the women were promoted and the men were not, Sauer said he thought one was better than none.
"It's fair in the whole spectrum of things," Rowing Captain Jennifer Herberger said.
Herberger said Title IX has been a positive influence for female athletes. Her first-year teammates were women who had been on the team when rowing was still a club sport.
Herberger's former teammates had to raise their own funds and work with a smaller coaching staff and less impressive facilities. During Herberger's time as a rower, she said she has seen the number of women recruited to row jump, while the number of walk-ons has fallen.
Title IX also has made women's crew more competitive.
A sport that was previously dominated by Ivy League schools now includes public schools such as the University of Michigan, Herberger said.
The University's rowing team has been among the top teams in the country for the past five years.
Although the number of men's and women's teams is equal, the percentage of athletes is 47.3 women compared to 52.7 men, a ratio which is still not proportional to the percentage of men and women at the University. The percentage of men to women is around 47 percent men to 53 percent women.
However, as the percentage of female athletes has increased over the decade, so has the percentage of scholarship funds given to women.
According to department statistics, the number of University women receiving athletic scholarships has increased from 38 percent in 1996 to 44 percent in 1999.
This is in accordance with the Title IX regulation that the percentage of scholarship money given to men and women must be equal to the percentage of male and female athletes.
Athletic facilities for women also have improved over time, Miller said.
The women's volleyball team recently moved their games from Memorial Gym to University Hall. Kl
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