It is impossible to tell whether a particular institution is in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law banning gender discrimination at institutions that receive federal funds, just by examining the reports, according to Mary Frances O'Shea, coordinator of Title IX issues in sports for the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The universities at which women still have few opportunities to participate in varsity sports are primarily those that field football teams. Football teams generate a great deal of revenue for colleges, but the sheer number of players needed to field a team creates a multitude of gender-equity concerns. Manhattan College, Drexel and Northeastern Universities, and the U.S. Air Force, Military, and Naval Academies all fit that description. At Chicago State University, for example, women were 41 per cent of athletes, but 71 per cent of the student body.
Some institutions still have very few female athletes.
E.W. Dennison, Murray State's athletics director, says he is surprised to see his institution at the top of the list. He points out that the Racers added women's crew this academic year and will start a soccer team for women next year. An athletics department isn't required to have its number of female athletes in direct proportion to the number of female undergraduates to be in compliance with Title IX, however. The Office for Civil Rights uses a three-part test to determine whether an institution has enough women participating in college sports. Institutions also may satisfy the participation requirements for Title IX if they have a history of expanding their athletics programs for women, or if they can demonstrate that they are fully accommodating the athletic interests and abilities of their female students.