Many of Ohio's female student-athletes have Thomas Boeh to thank for their opportunity to play intercollegiate sports. In his 10 years as Ohio's director of athletics, Boeh made great strides in making Ohio's athletics program gender equitable.
Compliance with Title IX extends into many different areas of athletics. The three main sections that the NCAA deals with are sport offerings, scholarships and a group of program areas that includes facilities, coaching and equipment. In his time at Ohio, Boeh and his staff worked continuously to create a gender-balanced environment for Ohio student-athletes and go above simply complying with NCAA standards.
We're talking beyond the x's and o's
the t's and the i's of Title IX Boeh said in a March 8 presentation on Ohio's adherence to Title IX. Compliance with Title IX is one thing. We're committed to the integrity of the core values of equity and diversity.
Boeh made sure that programs such as men's and women's basketball mirrored each other with regard to funding because the programs are so similar. Scholarships also had to be equal, and to compensate for football, all women's sports received a full complement of scholarships.
The Chronicle of Higher Education's Gender Equity Report has been one of the most significant measuring sticks for the athletics department. According to the 1996-1997 report, Ohio spent 34.87 percent of its operating budget on women's sports. In the most recent report, published in 2004, the percentage of Ohio's operating budget spent on women's athletics had increased to 41.7 percent, the second-highest total among all Division I-A institutions.
After the 1995 Gender Equity Recommendations submitted by the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Office of Affirmative Action, Boeh added three women's sports to the Ohio athletics program: soccer in 1997, golf in 1996, and lacrosse in 1999. Unlike many other universities, Ohio did not have to drop any men's programs in order to accommodate the necessary addition of women's sports. Ohio now has 11 women's sports and nine men's sports, and Boeh had mentioned looking at adding another women's sport in the near future.
Boeh oversaw the building of the Ohio Softball Field, Goldsberry Track and Pruitt Field, and the renovation of Chessa Field, improvements which provided Ohio women's teams with facilities rivaling any men's venue. Boeh also upheld a tradition that has been going on since 1980: no NCAA compliance investigations of the Ohio athletics program.
Title IX compliance is an area that many schools struggle with. But Boeh made Ohio one of the nation's leaders in gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.
No school has achieved absolute equity Boeh said. But we have achieved compliance with Title IX.
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Molly O'Hare
Bobcats meet Title IX rules under Boeh
