The following memo was distributed to all Colgate students today:
 
Office Of The President
 
  MEMORANDUM                                    September 29, 1992
 
To: The Campus Community
 
From: Neil R. Grabois
 
Subject: Women's Ice Hockey
 
     By now you may well have heard or read that U.S. Magistrate Judge
David N. Hurn ruled Monday in Utica that Colgate acted in violation of
Title IX by denying the women's ice hockey team's petition for varsity
status.  Magistrate Hurd has directed that Colgate grant varsity status to
the women's ice hockey team starting in 1993/94, and that the college
provide equivalent athletic opportunities for its women's ice hockey
players.
 
     The college is considering several options in response to the ruling,
one of which is the implementation of a women's varsity ice hockey program
next fall.  We are also considering the legal options available to us in
relation to Title IX, which in this case was applied to a single sport for
what may be the first time.  It will take us some time to formulate our
final response.
 
     Members of the campus community should know that Colgate's program for
women athletics is one of the best in the nation by nearly all counts.
Over the past 22 years the college has implemented eleven varsity sports
for women, all of which now play at the division I level of play in the
NCAA.  Indeed, while the Committee on Athletics has denied petitions for
varsity status from the women's ice hockey club, during the same period of
time it has awarded varsity status to women's teams in soccer, cross
country and track and field.
 
     In other words, the college has applied Title IX to its overall
athletic program, assessing interests across the student body and allotting
its resources for men's and women's athletics on the basis of that overall
assessment.  In this case, for the first time that we know, a magistrate
judge has applied Title IX through an analysis of a single sport played by
both men and women.
 
     There will most certainly be costs associated with this decision.  We
will not know the full measure of those costs until we have determined our
final response.
 
     Given Colgate's record of developing athletic opportunities for women
since 1970, this case is certain to be of interest to many other colleges.
We expect to be at the focus of attention, not only in the press, but also
in conversations among our colleagues on other campuses.
 
 
[end of memo]
 
[please note the only the only reason i did not use NC$$ was for reasons
of reproduction  :-)   ]
 
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|Carl Lindberg           Colgate University  '94    |
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