Yesterday Sacramento lawmakers began holding hearings on gender equity in college athletics. Inspired by the Lindy Vivas verdict and other pending suits against Fresno State, Senator Dean Florez called for the formation of a Senate Select Committee on Gender Discrimination and Title IX. Yesterday, the committee heard testimony from Vivas, Fresno State President John Welty, and the CSU Chancellor Charles Reed. Judging by the testimony included in this segment on KSFN, Reed seemed uncooperative and off topic as he complained that the jury award was excessive and reiterated his vows to appeal. Perhaps this is what prompted Senator Florez to later express concern about the institutional leadership at Fresno State, to which President Welty responded that gender equity was a difficult issue and that Fresno State was working to "get the job done."
In statement on his website, Senator Florez acknowledged the recent UC Berkeley settlement and says he plans to schedule additional hearings to address whether there is a pattern of gender discrimination at California schools. Perhaps those hearings will be more productive than this one appeared to be.
The Senate needs to look much deeper into Title IX compliance.
ReplyDeleteThe California Community Colleges boast that together as a system they are considered the "worlds largest" system of education, yet their record of Title IX compliance is terrible.
Look at Feather River Community College (FRC) as an example. Susan Carroll is the Superintendent/ President of FRC and she also serves on the state wide Board that has responsibility to govern over California Community College athletics. Her own campus is in serious non-compliance of Title IX regulations! To further explain how bad the JUCO system of compliance it out of wack, Feather River College's Dean of Instruction, Michael Bagley is also on the state wide athletic Board!
These administrators at Feather River should be ashamed! They know that their own college is in serious neglect of the federal laws, yet they run for state office over all athletic programs in California.
COME ON, SUSAN CARROLL AND MICHAEL BAGLEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED AND RESIGN.
COMPLIANCE IN THE JUCO SYSTEM IS A JOKE!