UNT athletic department maintains fairness among genders

by Heather Jackson of of North Texas Daily

For the second year in a row, the Mean Green men's and women's athletic teams are the national champions of Penn State York's annual "Gender Equity" scorecard (PDF).

The scorecard evaluates 115 Football Bowl Division colleges based on their commitment to gender equity in athletics, or equal participation and fairness for both men's and women's teams. This marks the Mean Green's third year as the top ranked college in the Sun Belt Conference for gender equity. UNT was also one of only two schools in the country to receive a grade of A+.

"[This award] says a lot about the commitment the University of North Texas has for women's athletics," UNT tennis coach Sujay Lama said. "This award will enhance the reputation of an athletic program that treats the women's programs no differently than the men's program."

The colleges' overall grade on the scorecard and national ranking are determined by five criteria: participation, scholarships, operating expenses, recruitment budgets, and coaches' salaries.

When athletic director Rick Villarreal arrived at UNT in 2001, there were no training facilities for women's athletics, and female athletes did not have access to the same resources as male athletes, said Eric Capper of the UNT athletics department.

"Since then, we've upgraded the tennis, soccer, softball and golf facilities for women's sports, and it has helped tremendously," he said.

Gender equity within the athletic department has been an ongoing goal for the past seven or eight years, Capper said.

"This has been a multi-faceted effort to try to make sure that we are at the top of all gender equity when it comes to other schools," he said. "From promotions to travel to apparel, we want to make sure everything is as nice for women's sports as men's."