Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Did he know then what we know now?
We have to keep fighting
Reinstated in 1999, Ohio Lacrosse attracted young, determined women from all over the nation who were eager to be a part of building something bigger than themselves. They competed proudly for six years. However, on January 25, 2007 they had their seventh season and and all subsequent seasons stripped from them under the guise of Title IX. We are fighting the decision for the reasons stated above, and because we love Ohio Lacrosse.
PETITION TO REINSTATE OHIO UNIVERSITY SPORTS
If you want to edit this blog...
Please email me, Brennan.Allis@gmail.com and I will provide you with the necessary sign in information.
Kirby Hocutt in a Flag Ceremony on Pruitt Field, OhioU v. Ohio State, 2006
Did he know then what we know now?
Why did it have to come to THIS?
A Very Different Wall
We have to keep fighting
Blog Archive
-
▼
2007
(24)
-
▼
January
(9)
- A recommended letter to Kirby Hocutt or Roderick M...
- What was your Ohio Lacrosse Experience?
- How YOU Can Help
- Old Numbers, New Numbers
- WE NEED SUPPORT!
- "Yet Another One Bites the Dust
- Ohio Track Discussion at Letsrun.com
- Peggy Pruitt's Response to a letter asking for sup...
- Blog to Centralize Ohio Lacrosse Efforts
-
▼
January
(9)
Newspaper Articles
- Meg Sanders makes excellent points in Athens News, 2/1/2007
- Jayme Levy Sounds Off at Misinformed Writer, Athens News, 2/1/2007
- While OU cuts sports, it retains ambitious athletic facilities plan, Athens News, 2/1/2007
- "Student Senate to Form Athletic Affairs Committee" 2/1/2007
- Columbus Dispatch Article (on OU track's Blog)
- LaxPower Article with IWCLA's Response, 1/30/2007
- "Equity in Athletics" Office of Postsecondary Education, US Department of Education (resource to see the allocation of funds in Ohio Athletics)
- Facebook Group (has grown by 100 members in 10 hours, up to 2050 since last night) to Save Ohio Sports
- Athens Post Article, JUST IN: McDavis faces anger, grief from student athletes, 1/26/2007
- Athens Messenger Article, 1/28/2007 "Student Athletes Sound Off at Forum"
- Main Page of Post 1/25/2007
- Athens Post Article, 1/25/2007
- Main Page of Post 1/25/2007
Save JMU Sports
Other Ohio Sports Blogs
Team in Cali
5 comments:
I have asked the parents and the alumni ask themselves what they wish to accomplish, my lawyer in cleveland Rob Zimmeran with Kahn Kleinman, has told me clearly that any effort to stop this mus be organized around a coherent goal. I have begun a legal process to get the univ. to disgorge all the data minutes of meetings etcetera, in order to get a feeling for how we might mount a legal action against the university. Please add to this blog any details you might think are pertinent.
Can someone add me to the email list, so I can get the emails everyone has been sending?
I completely agree that there needs to be an objective to channel all of this emotion and rage into positive action. I wrote to Ohio's parents and said this and I believe that it is highly possible that it is true. We hear the saying, "this is part of a larger national trend." When OU administrators stated that they hired a consultant, red flags to me went off everywhere. Why? Because JMU in Virginia also did the same thing. And they have an eerily similar set up to their approach of cutting the programs. I have to wonder if the consultant from JMU, (Lemar Daniel) is not selling a package sort of deal to schools on how to use Title IX cut minor sports so they can reallocate funds to revenue producing sports. It IS a conspiracy theory and I fully admit that. My father has asked for the consultant report from Kirby Hocutt. To the best of my knowledge, they have not produced anything or even dignified my Dad's request with a response. I do believe that time will tell whether or not they are willing to divulge information or it must be done by force of litigation.
With all that being said, like I mentioned, JMU has mounted an effort that has been heart felt and persistant, but most importantly, well organized and well executed. It is my hope that we can start to centralize all of our thoughts and energies HERE, so that we can spearhead an effort to achieve what it is we want to achieve. For more information on JMU's efforts (and I encourage you to simultaneously add yourselves to their email list for updates and for support), the JMU website is: http://www.savejmusports.org/index.html
Finally, it is my hope that while we may all among the different sports teams effected have different voices, we decide as a community and as an Athletics community (get the non-effect sports involoved as Kirby said these may not be the last of the cuts), to work together to preserve the Ohio we signed up to represent.
Here is info on a sports program that was reinstated. I am not sure if this info will help, but I'll keep looking.
Judge says Slippery Rock must reinstate women's sports
Updated 7/31/2006 12:05 AM ET
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Slippery Rock University must reinstate two women's sports it cut for budget reasons because the school is not complying with a federal law requiring equal opportunities for female athletes, a federal judge ruled.
The university in January announced it was cutting eight sports to save $350,000 — including women's field hockey, water polo and swimming — as part of an effort to erase a $2 million budget shortfall. The school later decided to keep field hockey, but members of the women's swimming and water polo teams challenged the cuts in a federal lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose found university President Robert Smith was wrong not to consider compliance with Title IX, a law requiring schools that receive federal money to provide equal sports opportunities for men and women.
"Knowing that SRU was not compliant with Title IX, Smith nevertheless decided not to consider Title IX compliance in determining which teams to eliminate," Ambrose ruled.
Slippery Rock officials declined to comment Monday and referred questions to the state attorney general's office.
A spokesman for the attorney general, Nils Frederiksen, noted that Ambrose said her ruling could change if the university can demonstrate Title IX compliance in the future.
"It's not a permanent issue and we expect it will be revisited in the future, although it's unclear when that will be," Frederiksen said.
Beth Choike, 20, of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. Choike, who will be a junior, was captain of the swim team and also played water polo, and receives a partial scholarship for both sports.
"I never lost hope and I never stopped fighting for it," Choike said Monday. "We're reinstated for the next year and I know my teammates and I are very pleased."
The school, which also cut men's swimming, water polo, golf, wrestling and tennis after the school year ended, had argued in court that it tried to be fair in deciding which sports to cut.
Smith used spreadsheets including financial data for the school's 23 teams, and other information, including how competitive the teams were and their academic performance, before deciding which teams to cut.
Smith testified that a major reason the water sports were cut was that the teams' pool needed $1 million in renovations. But James Yeamans, the coach of the women's water polo and swimming teams, testified the facilities are comparable to competing schools and that another pool on campus could have been used for the teams.
The university said it also implemented a roster-management plan in March to address Title IX concerns. Under the plan, the number of roster spots on men's teams would be cut from 271 to 240 and spots on women's teams increased from 235 to 288 to provide proportional opportunities for women.
But Ambrose found the plan was just a "paper increase." For example, the school planned to upgrade the women's club lacrosse team to a varsity squad with 24 roster spots — even though the club team had only 17 players, and none expressed an interest in joining a more demanding varsity program.
"SRU could simply designate the 'addition' of these positions without actually expecting that they be filled," Ambrose said.
Susan J. Frietsche, an attorney at the Women's Law Project who represented the students, said that tactic "signals that this was not the school's good faith response to the expressed interest of its students."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2006-07-25-slippery-rock_x.htm
Please see WWW.SaveOUSports.Org
This is a central location on the web where all three teams can coordinate their efforts.
Post a Comment