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HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Howard officials are considering an athletic department proposal to add women's lacrosse, softball and bowling for the 1997-98 school year in an attempt to close the gap between the percentage of female undergraduates at the school and the number of female athletes.

According to a study by the Chronicle of Higher Education, women made up 62 percent of Howard's undergraduates during the 1995-96 school year, but 31 percent of its athletes—one of the worst ratios in the nation. Sondra Norrell-Thomas, Howard's senior women's athletics administrator, said the university intends to add women's teams and scholarships until equity is achieved.

"Gender equity and Title IX are the right thing to do," Howard Athletic Director Hank Ford said in a recent interview. "It's not a situation where you say, 'Do you?' It's the law, and we're trying to comply."

The quest for equity in women's athletics is being undertaken at a school that has a Division I-AA football program, which is allowed 65 scholarships under NCAA rules. (Division I-A schools are allowed 85 scholarships). There is no women's sport offering a comparable number of scholarships at the school, so additional women's scholarships in a number of sports may be required to reach equity.

Norrell-Thomas said recently that Howard would have to find funding for additional women's scholarships, along with salaries for coaches' salaries and start-up costs. She said she hoped some of the money would come from the school's general fund.

Howard currently has men's teams participating in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, track and field and swimming. Its women's teams are basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, track and field and swimming.

Earlier this decade, women's basketball coach Sanya Tyler sued the university for equal pay, citing a significantly lower salary than then-men's coach Butch Beard and poorer facilities than the men's program had. A D.C. Superior Court jury awarded Tyler $2.2 million in 1993, though the award since has been reduced.

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

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