Second NCAA Meeting Draws Small Crowd

Much like the stands at all-too-many Harvard sporting events, last night's open meeting in Emerson Hall, which was designed to foster communication between the student body and the NCAA Self-Study steering committee, was barren.

The lone attendee for most of the dialogue was the women's lacrosse team coach, Carole Kleinfelder.

One student also came for part of the meeting.

The Self-Study committee had been hoping to gauge student sentiment and take note of any questions or concerns athletes had about the varsity and junior varsity athletic programs at Harvard.

The committee intended to use these concerns as points of consideration in their study of Harvard's compliance with NCAA regulations. The study is to be presented to the NCAA next year, when Harvard will be reviewed in hopes of receiving NCAA accreditation for another five years.

This meeting was the second of two open forums designed to solicit student ideas. The first meeting was abandoned because no students attended.

The Self-Study committee has been designed to follow the NCAA operating principles and NCAA-mandated self-study items, evaluate the position of the University in relation to these principles and create plans for improvement.

It is composed of a steering committee, headed by Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, and four sub-committees dealing with fiscal integrity; academic integrity; governance and commitment to rules compliance; and commitment to equity.

Barbara J. Grosz, chair of the equity sub-committee, gave a brief summary of her committee's efforts to date, as did Elizabeth S. Nathans, dean of freshmen and chair of the rules compliance committee.

The five committee heads, slouching casually in their straight-backed insignia chairs, lead an informal discussion instead of their originally-forecasted brainstorming session when it became apparent that student turnout was somewhat lower than anticipated.

Grosz was asked whether the equality committee was studying the alleged salary disparities between male and female coaches at Harvard. A recent report showed that female coaches receive lower salaries than their male counterparts.

She said that the purpose of the current study was not to evaluate Harvard's compliance with Title IX--a law requiring equal resources for women's and men's sports programs--but that the issue would be discussed.

Citing the multiplicity of factors involved in salary determination, including years of experience and amount of responsibility, Grosz emphasized the inconclusive nature of the report at this time and urged that reaching any conclusions be avoided before the release of the report next year.

She said the committee is developing strategies for recruiting more women and minorities and described women's sports as being in a "transition time," with the amount of participants and program sizes exploding over the past few years, pointing to an eventual evening-out of the gender parity playing field.

Kleinfelder emphasized the importance of gender equity.

"The NCAA doesn't feel they should be held accountable for Title IX. I know that. They said it. I think they should embrace [the Title IX requirements]," she said.

All five committee chairs urged interested students to visit the Self-Study website at http://www.harvard.edu/ncaa_self_study/, and to share with them via e-mail any concerns they might have

She said that the purpose of the current study was not to evaluate Harvard's compliance with Title IX--a law requiring equal resources for women's and men's sports programs--but that the issue would be discussed.

Citing the multiplicity of factors involved in salary determination, including years of experience and amount of responsibility, Grosz emphasized the inconclusive nature of the report at this time and urged that reaching any conclusions be avoided before the release of the report next year.

She said the committee is developing strategies for recruiting more women and minorities and described women's sports as being in a "transition time," with the amount of participants and program sizes exploding over the past few years, pointing to an eventual evening-out of the gender parity playing field.

Kleinfelder emphasized the importance of gender equity.

"The NCAA doesn't feel they should be held accountable for Title IX. I know that. They said it. I think they should embrace [the Title IX requirements]," she said.

All five committee chairs urged interested students to visit the Self-Study website at http://www.harvard.edu/ncaa_self_study/, and to share with them via e-mail any concerns they might have