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NAVAL ACADEMY

The Naval Academy, like the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy, is unique in its adherence to Title IX.

The most telling statistics regarding Navy's compliance with Title IX are these: of the 542 female undergraduates (or 13.7 percent of the student body), 48 percent compete in sports on the varsity level, according to 1995-96 figures released by the Naval Academy under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994.

"We're actually over the limit," said Steve Orsini, associate director of athletics at the Naval Academy. "We're not going to change it. We have nine female varsity sports, and the percentages are great. We're way ahead of the scale."

Navy's female-only varsity sports are basketball, cross country, diving, rowing, soccer, swimmings, track and field, volleyball and sailing. Female athletes also compete in rifle, a coed sport.

Track and field has the highest participation rate, with 42 women competing on the varsity level. Next are swimming (32), basketball (26), rowing (25) and soccer (24).

"We actually would have to cut sports if we wanted participation among women at Navy to be at the same percentage as the enrollment," Navy Athletic Director Jack Lengyel said.

Figures showed that expenditures for Navy women's varsity teams were on par with men's varsity teams based on the number of athletes participating. Expenditures for the women's soccer team, for instance, totaled $21,903 for its 24 participants. Men's soccer expenditures totaled $28,092 for 31 players.

Navy also has upgraded the infrastructure for women's sports, Lengyel said, by expanding office space for women's coaches in sports such as basketball. Gene Wang

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

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