In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the law that was passed to help ensure gender equity in education, the National Coalition of Women and Girls in Education is filing 40 complaints against universities that the coalition says are ‘failing egregiously’.
Lisa Maatz, NCWGE chair, has put the Univerity of Wisconsin-Platteville on notice by filing a written complaint that said the university is failing to treat the sexes equally with regard to participation opportunities and the benefits and services provided to male and female teams.
The primary problem, Maatz said, is that the university is offering advance registration to athletes, but that there is a gender imbalance.
“Not all female athletes are eligible for the privilege of cutting into the virtual line for registration,” Maatz said.
Maatz said the athletics page on the university website features the UW-Platteville cheer & stunt squad and the Pioneer dance team, but the members of those organizations do not get to register early.
“Is it a coincidence that the cheerleaders and dancers are primarily female?” Maatz asked rhetorically. “As a former cheerleader who trained throughout the academic year, landed on her head from the top of a three-tiered mount and suffers from chronic laryngitis, I say cheerleaders need to be treated with the same deference and get the same perks as those guys who just run up and down a polished hardwood floor and stuff a ball through a hoop.”
No one in the athletic department or in the administration would comment for the record in response to Maatz, but the heer & stunt squad webpage says, “It’s a whole new year for the UW-Platteville cheer & stunt squad.”
Indeed.
A source close to administration said that cheerleaders and dancers increased attendance at games.
“Even when the football team or basketball team suck, the parents and boyfriends of the cheerleaders and dancers attend the games,” an anonymous source said.
Attempts were made to contact a spokesperson for the student loyalty program that bribes students to attend games with trinkets, but that person apparently was lost somewhere in the O-zone.