May 10, 2001

By Daniel Libit
Albuquerque Tribune

ALBUQUERQUE - The University of New Mexico's faculty senate plans to recommend to the school's Board of Regents on Friday that it consider reinstating three men's Olympic sports that were cut two years ago.

John Geissman, president of the faculty senate, said the move would be a small step toward bringing back wrestling, gymnastics and swimming. But Athletics Director Rudy Davalos said the recommendation is an act of futility. "Those sports won't be brought back," he said Wednesday.

The recommendation is coming at a time when UNM is under federal criticism for not making satisfactory progress toward providing athletic opportunities to women in proportion to their representation on the student body. UNM has been told to respond by Aug. 1 to the Office of Civil Rights' suggestion that it consider adding women's field hockey to its roster of sports.

The three men's sports were cut in April 1999, with athletics department officials saying the move was made to save money and help the school comply with gender-equity laws. UNM was running a 24-sport athletics program on $13.7 million annually.

The faculty senate met a month later to discuss the cuts but did not pursue the matter. On April 24 of this year, though, a motion to reinstate the three sports sponsored by faculty senator Peter Dorato, an electrical engineering professor, was resoundingly approved.

This is the first time that the faculty senate has made its opinion known regarding the sports' demise. Geissman, a planetary scientist, said he hopes the strong vote compels the Regents to eventually restore the programs.

Athletics department records show UNM eliminated 30 men's athletic scholarships by axing the three sports -- eight each in wrestling and gymnastics and 14 in swimming.

Restoring scholarships to men could create a further imbalance in a gender ratio that a federal agency has already deemed unacceptable.

In 1999-2000, following the cuts, there were 381 males participating in athletics at UNM compared with 208 women, according to figures the university provided to the Office of Civil Rights, a division of the federal Department of Education.

In that school year, 56 percent of UNM undergraduates were female. The Office of Civil Rights has criticized UNM's performance in providing athletics opportunities for women and noted that in order to meet the same proportions in athletics and overall enrollment, it would need to make an extra 277 athletics opportunities available for women.

UNM awarded 196 athletic scholarships (61.2 percent) to men and 124 to women (38.8 percent) in 1999-00. Scholarships to women would need to double to be in proportion to their enrollment.

In a continuing dialogue with UNM, the Office of Civil Rights has suggested field hockey as a sport that could be added for women, and asked that the university respond by Aug. 1 on whether this is feasible. UNM once offered field hockey for women but dropped it in 1975.

The Office of Civil Rights became involved with UNM athletics on Sept. 28, 1999, when Dr. Fred Hashimoto, Jim Stevens and 12 former UNM student-athletes filed a complaint alleging that UNM "is not providing equal opportunity to females in meeting athletic interests and abilities."

The group was effectively trying to show that cutting the men's sports was not necessary to help UNM achieve the directives of Title IX, which is part of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in programs and activities funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

When the cutting of the three sports was announced, UNM athletics officials downplayed its importance to Title IX compliance. Instead, they estimated that the athletics department would save up to $300,000 by the end of this year.

But Hashimoto says that's not true.

"The economic (savings) is pennies," said Hashimoto, a professor of internal medicine at UNM. "These student-athletes were real student-athletes."

Hashimoto said that the omission of men's swimming has saved the university only about $10,000, less than the cost of one football scholarship.

"I'm not going to debate his math versus the university's," said Bill McGillis, an associate athletics director. "The decision made two years ago was the right decision."

Hashimoto said that he met with Regent Larry Willard, interim Vice President Julie Weaks, President William Gordon and Gov. Gary Johnson before the three sports were officially dropped on June 30, 1999.

He said that Johnson, along with the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, the Student Lettermen's Association and the Alumni Lettermen's Association, all passed resolutions to retain the sports.

"The key reasons for dropping (the sports) were the budget, Title IX, and that the athletic department didn't want the football budget to be touched," said Dorato, the professor who sponsored the measure endorsing the sports' return.

He added, "I think there's potentially a good shot (for reinstatement) now that the Board of Regents will hear about it again. The faculty has never given its official opinion before. This Friday is very important."

Dorato said that the senate's only power is recommendation and that influence from the community will also be needed to sway the board.

"My ideological position is that I would have reduced the football budget and would have kept (swimming, gymnastics and wrestling)," he said.

Hashimoto said that this issue goes beyond the three sports.

"UNM benefits from having student-athletes," he said. "They have higher GPA's and graduation rates than non-student athletes.

"This is a big issue that involves more than three men's sports. It involves athletics at UNM. It involves high profile professional sports versus participatory minor sports. It involves what a student athlete is and how important (a student-athlete) is to UNM."