CSUN'S GENDER GAP WOMEN'S SPORTS ON RISE, BUT STILL FALL SHORT.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

CSUN made significant progress in opening sports to women in the past five years but still lags behind other state university campuses, a study released Tuesday found.

California State University, Northridge, ranked last in the 23-campus system for spending on women's sports and second to last for scholarships and the number of eligible women participating.

The push to provide women athletes with more opportunities is the result of a consent decree reached in a 1993 lawsuit filed by the California National Organization for Women claiming that the California State University system violated Title IX rules for gender equity.

CSUN officials said they believe they have worked diligently to give women more chances to play sports, and they hope to close the gap by potentially adding three more - water polo, rowing and gymnastics.

Also, CSUN may switch from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West Conference, which would free up football scholarships that could be used by women athletes in other sports, officials said. A decision on whether to change conferences is expected today.

``We think we've made tremendous progress,'' spokesman John Chandler said. ``We've about tripled women's scholarships and women's team funding. In terms of participation, we now have actually more female athletes than we do male athletes.

``And when we add the additional women's teams over the next several years, we fully expect to meet all the goals in the consent decree.''

Linda Joplin, chairwoman of the CalNOW athletic equity committee, said several factors explain why CSUN is behind in reaching the goals, including its decision to keep football.

``They have put off hard decisions where other campuses have bitten the bullet,'' Joplin said. ``They had a long road ahead, but the new athletic director deserves a chance to move ahead.''

On campus Tuesday, male and female student athletes hailed gains under the agreement.

``I think we're still far shy of what men will get,'' said softball pitcher Jessica Creith, a 21-year-old senior. ``Don't get me wrong, you need men's sports.''

Women's softball coach Janet Sherman lauded the progress but said CSUN could be in compliance if not for football, which requires 60 scholarships and has no equivalent for women on campus.

``If you took football out of that equation, we'd be equal,'' Sherman said, adding, however, that she does not advocate eliminating football necessarily. ``I'm pro-sports and I think the real crime here was in (the Cal State system) not giving any money.''

Tuesday's report comes two years after CSUN dropped four men's sports teams including baseball to comply with the requirements, but reinstated them following community pressure.

CSUN decided to keep its men's football team, while other CSU schools including Fullerton and Long Beach dropped theirs to meet the gender equity requirements.

Altogether, the state system made massive gains, and those not in compliance - including CSUN - are close, according to the report.

``CSU has made more progress in this area than probably any other university system in the country,'' said John Welty, president of California State University, Fresno, and chairman of the CSU/Cal-NOW Consent Decree Monitoring Committee.

The agreement requires the percentage of women athletes on campus to be within 5 percent of the number of those who are eligible under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, funding to be within 10 percent and grants to be within 5 percent.

At CSUN, from 1993 to 1999, the number of women participating in sports rose from 186, or 34.5 percent of total participation, to 242, or 53.3 percent. CSUN missed the goal by 2.7 percent, ranking second lowest in the state.

Team spending rose from $1.2 million, or 40 percent of total spending, to $3.4 million, or 48 percent. CSUN ranked worst in the state, missing the mark by 3.2 percent.

Scholarships and grants rose from $250,000, or 40 percent of the total, to $773,138, or 49 percent. CSUN ranked second worst in the state, coming in 7.2 percent off the goal.

CSUN attributed the low rankings to several factors, including increases in female enrollment in the past two years that now places the percentage of women at 61 percent, although other schools have similar proportions. The statewide average is 56 percent.

CSUN athletic director Dick Dull, who took over administration of the Northridge athletics program in the fall, said he is satisfied with the campus's progress.

``You need to look at this in the context of where we were when the consent degree was signed,'' he said.

A key to reaching CSUN's goals involves its plan to add three more women's sports and 80 more women athletes in the next three years. Among the possible additions are water polo because it is relatively inexpensive and one of the hottest sports for women in the Southland, Dull said. Gymnastics and crew are other possibilities, but both are expensive because of the equipment involved.

Further helping CSUN reach compliance will be its expected move today from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West.

The Big Sky requires 60 scholarships for football, but the Big West does not compete in football, which would free up scholarships for women's sports.

The latter move, of course, is a controversial topic on campus. CSUN is just beginning to establish itself as a respectable Division I-AA football school. Back in the mid-1990s, when the CSUN football scholarship total hovered in the 40s, the quality of its teams was low.

``Moving to the Big West would allow us to define what level of football we can play at,'' Dull said.

- Staff Writers Robert Monroe and Chris Branam contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

photo, chart

Photo: (color) Members of the women's softball team go through throwing drills Tuesday at California State University, Northridge.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Chart: Keeping pace?

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist