Title IX at 50: How Did Sandy Barbour Do at Penn State and Where Does PSU Rank in the Big Ten?

Last Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity — i.e., college sports — receiving federal financial assistance.

This coming Thursday marks the end of Sandy Barbour’s nearly eight-year tenure as Penn State’s athletic director — her first day was Aug. 18, 2014.

So, it’s a good time to see how Barbour advanced Title IX initiatives during her time at Penn State and see where Penn State stands with Title IX compliance compared to the other 13 schools in the Big Ten. Penn State has 31 sports programs (16 men, 15 women) — tied for fourth-most in the FBS.

Under Barbour, have opportunities for women athletes at Penn State gotten better or worse?

Mostly, they have stayed the same. Not what you would have expected from a former college athlete and coach, and a national figure who was an athletic director for 21 years, at Tulane (3), Cal (10) and Penn State (8).

THE OVERVIEW

Here is a quick overview, followed by athlete participation numbers for all Big Ten schools for 2021-22, the most recent year for which statistics are available:

— Barbour added 28 women athletes at Penn State from 2014-15 to 2020-21, compared to 37 slots for men.

—Percentage-wise, the number of unduplicated female athletes (those playing two or three sports, i.e., cross-country and track athletes are only counted once) was essentially flat. No increase. In 2014-15, the percentage of varsity athletes at Penn State who were female was 41.95% compared to 42% of all Penn State athletes in 2020-21. Only Purdue (39%) and Maryland (40.5%) have a smaller percentage of women athletes in the Big Ten.

— Penn State actually got a bit worse in the percentage of its female athletes meeting the overall percentage of women undergraduate students at the university, with the gap growing from 5.05% to 5.40%.

— For the number of its women athletes to be proportional to the number of women students on the University Park campus, Penn State would have to add 46 more women athletes. Penn State ranks tied for 10^th-best in the 14-school Big Ten in this category. Rutgers is the only Big Ten program that meets, and even exceeds by three athletes, proportionality for its women athletes.

— The gap between the number of Penn State’s female athletes (359) and male athletes (495) in 2020-21 was 136. That is the biggest imbalance in the Big Ten and more than what it was at Penn State in Barbour’s first year (127), in 2014-15.

— Barbour hired nine new head coaches, five of whom are women — six for women’s teams, two for men’s teams and one who oversees both men’s and women’s teams (cross country, track and field). Two of the women replaced men who had been head coaches of women’s teams (volleyball, gymnastics).

— Under Barbour’s direction, Penn State won 28 Big Ten regular and postseason championships — 16 by seven different men’s teams, 12 by five different women’s teams. Penn State won seven national championships in Barbour’s time — five by wrestling and one each by women’s volleyball and women’s soccer.

Overall, the Big Ten Conference can do (much) better having the number of its women athletes being proportional to the number of its women students. In all, the Big Ten would have to add 432 women athletes to its rosters to match the percentage of women on its campuses. Now, that would be a great way for the Big Ten to celebrate the 50^th anniversary.

How do we know all of this? Title IX and the federal government.

Each college’s athletic department must submit an annual report to the U.S. Department of Education, as is required by the Equity in Education Disclosure Act (EADA, as everyone in college sports calls it), to ensure Title IX compliance.

The numbers that Penn State submits to EADA include all commonwealth campus athletic participation, obscuring its Title IX compliance numbers at University Park. The other 13 Big Ten sports programs with satellite campuses break out those numbers by campus, unlike PSU.

However, Penn State does post its University Park-only numbers online, if you know where to look; they can be found here.

All of the other Big Ten reports can be found here, on the EADA site.

THE 3 PRONGS OF TITLE IX

How do you judge if a university’s athletic program is following Title IX laws?

There are three main ways; a school must meet only one of the following to show it is complying with Title IX:

1. Showing that the number of women athletes is in proportion to overall women enrollment, i.e., if undergraduate enrollment is 47.4% women — as it is at Penn State — then 47.4% of sports participants should be women. Which is not the case. PSU is at 42%. Penn State ranks No. 9 out of 14 Big Ten schools in this category.

2. Demonstrating a history of expanding opportunities for women, i.e., opportunities and participation of women athletes is growing. Since 2014-15, Penn State has added 28 female athletes and 37 male athletes.

3. Proving that a school is meeting the athletic interests and abilities of its women students, i.e., proving there is not a hue and cry for more team spots for women or the creation of new teams, such as Penn State women undergrads petitioning for a women’s varsity rugby team or varsity rowing team. (Penn State has club teams in both sports.)

If women at Penn State sued to add either program to the varsity level, they would likely have a good case beyond the unequal participation numbers. Women’s rugby at Penn State is an eight-time Big Ten champ, while there are currently eight Big Ten schools that have varsity women’s crew.

WHAT SANDY SAYS

Sports Business Journal named Barbour its 2021-2022 Athletic Director of the Year in May. As such, Barbour did a 38-minute interview with Collegiate Sports Connect that was posted last week on YouTube. As of this posting, it had less than 50 views.

Here is an excerpt of what Barbour had to say about Title IX (beginning at the 28:25 mark):

“I look at the opportunities that I had as a field hockey and basketball player at Wake Forest from 1977 to 1981. And then I see the opportunity that our female student-athletes have today. Now that’s also in the context of all student-athletes,” Barbour said. “Athletic departments are magnificently different for all student-athletes than they were 40 years ago. But I look at what it looked like in 1977, which I have first-hand knowledge of, and I look at what it is today. Tremendous progress. 

“It’s not enough. We’re not there. And, you know, as a young assistant coach, I remember trying to think about how to analyze this, and (thought) ‘What’s the issue? What’s that problem here?’ ”

Barbour provided her own answer:

“It’s the financial model. And it’s these revenue sports,” she said, using air quotes “…I think the challenge focuses around the financial model and having to disconnect from that and say, ‘That doesn’t matter as it relates to equity.’

“And we’re fortunate at Penn State to have the opportunity to be one of probably 15 to 20 Division I institutions across the country where we are completely self-funded. Now, from an equity standpoint, does that give us the formula to provide equitable opportunities?

“And I think we have several problems. We have male/female, the gender equity issue; we have a revenue/non-revenue program challenge and I think they all need to be solved. But as a woman, as a Title IX baby sitting here in the 50th year of Title IX, we’re at this wonderful intersection here at Penn State” — the 50th anniversary of Title IX and, in 2024, the recognition of 60 years of women’s athletics at Penn State.

THE BIG TEN & TITLE IX TODAY

Numbers below are all for 2020-21, except from Penn State, which is for both 2014-15 and 2020-21, and is delineated as such. All of the following information is from the federal government and Penn State’s GoPSUSports.com website. Men who practice with women’s teams, but do not play in games, are not counted.