
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310290013
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

TECH OPTS TO DEVISE TITLE IX PLAN

About four months from now, Virginia Tech will present to its board of visitors a plan to bring the school's athletic department in full compliance with Title IX, the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination by institutions that receive federal aid.

Minnis Ridenour, Tech's executive vice president, said Thursday he wants the school in compliance no later than 1999.

Many universities, including Tech, have a smaller percentage of women athletes, women's scholarships and funding for women's sports than the percentage of women enrolled. Several colleges have been sued in recent years over those disparities as enforcement of the 21-year-old law has become a national issue.

Ridenour said fear of a lawsuit was not the reason he asked Dave Braine, Tech's athletic director, to chart the university's course.

"We believe this is what we should be doing," Ridenour said.

Two weeks ago, Ridenour received a report he commissioned in February that studied Tech's non-revenue sports, focusing on gender equity. That report, Ridenour said, will be a resource for Braine's efforts.

Braine will work with the university's athletic committee and forward a plan to Ridenour, who will consult with Tech's acting president, Paul E. Torgerson, provost Fred Carlisle and Tech's budget and planning committee before presenting it at the February meeting of the board of visitors.

"[Dave's] responsibility is to tell me what he thinks we have to do," Ridenour said. "[Mine] is the financial plan to make it all happen."

Elyzabeth Holford, the health and physical education professor who was chairwoman of the committee that produced the gender-equity report, said Tech's public approach to the gender equity issue is "unique." Tech officials believe the university is among the first to commit to full conformity with Title IX.

Tech, which last year announced its men's and women's swimming teams would be dropped, was threatened with a Title IX lawsuit by its women's swimming team. Tech reinstated its swimming teams for this school year, pending Holford's report and Tech's decision on the future of its women's and non-revenue sports.

Ridenour said Tech is "very serious" about adhering to Title IX.

"Our intent would be not to go beyond a five-year period getting in compliance," he said. "We think we can make that happen."

by CNB