Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin has agreed to add opportunities and resources for women's sports, as part of a voluntary resolution agreement with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to ensure compliance with Title IX. We noted last December that the school was under investigation by OCR after receiving a complaint about inequities in MATC athletics. The college, with a 53 male student body, presently offers 62 athletic opportunities (and a near identical percentage) for men in a total of four sports, with the support of 16 coaches. Female students, who make up 47% of the student body, have 37 opportunities in three sports, with 3 coaches. No female students receive athletic scholarships, while members of the men's baseball team do.
To remedy these imbalances, the college has committed to adding women's soccer, a step it had already announced while the OCR investigation was underway. The college is planning to hire a coach later this year and field a team in 2014. In addition, it will elevate its softball team to Division II of the National Junior College Athletic Association, so that it may provide scholarships to its members. OCR will monitor MATC's compliance with this agreement for the next three years.
