Gender Equity in UC Davis Athletics

Q&A with Nona Richardson

Nona Richardson, executive senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at UC Davis, shares her thoughts on Title IX gender equity at UC Davis.

Richardson, who will begin serving as interim athletics director on July 1, joined UC Davis in April 2007 and has more than 30 years of intercollegiate athletics experience as a student-athlete, coach and administrator.

Q. Is UC Davis compliant with the gender equity requirements for athletics under Title IX?

A. Yes. The reason I came to UC Davis was because of the strong commitment the campus has had and continues to have to the issues of gender equity, both for student-athletes and for coaches, and to Title IX in general.

A campus can comply with the law’s gender equity provisions by satisfying any one of three tests:

It can provide opportunities for men and women proportionate to their enrollment. It can show a record of expanding the program for the underrepresented sex. Or it can demonstrate that its existing program is in keeping with the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex on campus and competition in its region.

Historically, UC Davis has demonstrated a continuous expansion of opportunities for women. We’ve added six varsity sports for women since 1996. However, women’s rowing was one of four sports discontinued for budget reasons at the end of the last academic year. UC Davis now sponsors 14 women’s varsity teams, compared with nine men’s varsity sports.

The campus is now providing opportunities for female student athletes within two percent of the total percentage of women in our undergraduate student body. So UC Davis complies with Title IX by satisfying the first test.

Q. Historically, what has been UC Davis’ commitment to gender equity in athletics?

A. This campus put the necessary pieces in place to support gender equity even before laws had been enacted, before other institutions had decided to step up to the plate. Even today, there are still many institutions that are not doing what they need to do to comply with Title IX. UC Davis has been a frontrunner in that field, which is one of the reasons that I opted to come to UC Davis.

The fact that all our programs are allocated the same percentage of grants-in-aid is a big deal. It puts the programs on an equal playing field. So when you ask about the historical commitment UC Davis has had, it’s been a long-term commitment. It’s been ongoing, and it will continue to be ongoing.

Q. How has the transition from a Division II to Division I school affected that commitment?

A. Being a Division I school has not altered our commitment to compliance with Title IX and gender equity. UC Davis is unique in our approach to intercollegiate athletics. We established eight core principles to guide us through the transition and future Division I competition. One of them promises that UC Davis will not retreat from its Title IX progress.

We are not going to step backward in our gender equity compliance. Indeed, we will move forward, and we will continue doing what we have been doing. And that is to make sure that our underrepresented sex — our female student-athletes — is not disadvantaged when compared to our male student-athletes. We will continue to support them with athletic services, scholarships and budget like their male counterparts.

Q. What are the major misconceptions about Title IX?

A. Unfortunately, a number of men’s Olympic sports have been discontinued at certain colleges and universities. People are being told that Title IX is the reason for dropping the programs. That is a total misconception. Programs on the men’s side and some on the women’s side are being discontinued because of funding, especially if programs have football.

Football takes a lot of resources because the number of players is so large. You’ve got scholarships, plus the equipment, plus the number of coaches, the chartered flights and chartered buses… It all adds up. That is a drain on a lot of athletics programs, and they cannot make ends meet. That is why they are dropping men’s sports programs. And the programs that are getting hit hard are wrestling, track and field, swimming and gymnastics.

Or you may hear that women are now getting everything because Title IX dictates that. That, again, is a misconception. Title IX basically states that men’s and women’s athletics programs must be on an equal playing field.

Title IX just wants equal opportunity. It doesn’t say match dollar for dollar, because we know that it costs more to run a football program than it does to run a gymnastics program. But the overall men’s and women’s sports programs need to receive the same reasonable expenses and scholarships.

Q. What have you experienced in your career as a female student-athlete, coach and administrator?

A. As an athlete, I came through the late days of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the early days of Title IX. It wasn’t until 1982 that all sports programs were put under the NCAA umbrella.

In the late ’70s, we had female athletes who took our department at Michigan State University to court because they weren’t getting what the men were getting. They weren’t traveling at the same rate. They weren’t receiving uniforms at the same rate. So they had a right to take the department to task because it wasn’t living up to the law.

When I was a coach in the mid ’80s, men’s programs continued receiving more than women’s programs. Salaries were disproportionate, as were practice times and travel accommodations.

It’s because the schools had already overindulged in spending on the men’s side that their budget would not allow them to do what was right for the women. This was new to them. So there was still a big gap to be made up.

As an administrator, I’ve been at Division I-AAA, Division I-AA and Division I-A institutions. Each of those levels has its own issues relative to how they fund and support their sport programs.

Some have scholarships for every sport program. Some do not. Some have full-time coaches. Some do not. Some are limited in their playing schedules. Some are not. Some programs are tiered — if you are at a certain level you will receive a different level of support — and some are not.

The bottom line is that no matter what level of program you are involved with, the department is the one that sets the standard for meeting Title IX compliance.

Q. At UC Davis, what is it like on the field and in the locker room for women student-athletes?

A. Everything is on the same playing level. Women student-athletes cannot say, “My male counterpart sport is getting more than I am. Why is that?” We eyeball every single thing. Our women’s basketball program doesn’t have a qualm that men’s basketball might be getting more than what they’re getting. Both men and women are all benefiting at the same level.

They’re all experiencing competitive coaching. They’re experiencing qualified athletic trainers. They’re experiencing qualified strength and conditioning coaches. The men’s and women’s programs use the same support services. The practice opportunities are equal. The practice times are relative. We share facilities. Even the Aggie Stadium is the home field for football, women’s lacrosse and women’s field hockey.

Nothing is always perfect, but I think overwhelmingly we are providing our student-athletes with a great experience. We are charting new territory for UC Davis in Division I.

Q. What, in your opinion, helps UC Davis meet the requirements of Title IX?

A. A lot of times, it’s the ability to say no and draw the line on certain aspects of programming. Before we move forward to say, “Yes, men’s basketball can do this or have this,” or, “Football, you can do this,” we look at the impact on our women’s programs.

If we’re not able to assist a women’s program in that same respect, we tell them, “No. You can’t do it.” A lot of programs don’t see things that way. Saying no to your programs that generate the most revenue is something that a lot of programs don’t want to do. So that gap continues to widen at some institutions as far as gender equity is concerned.

It’s all about doing the right thing. That’s what Title IX gender equity is all about. It’s not because the law is saying I have to do it.

Parents, you know, they have a boy, and they have a girl. The boy should get more because he’s a boy? No, you’ve got two kids, and you’ve got to be equitable with them. That’s what Title IX is all about, and here at UC Davis, that’s what we’re all about.

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Last updated May 27, 2011