Last month, the University announced in a report to the National Collegiate Athletic Association that it is closing the gap between men's and women's sports at Duke, per Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Almost 30 years after the federal initiative was passed, some officials in collegiate sports wonder if Title IX--which mandates equal funding for women's sports proportional to the percentage of women in the student body--has had a disproportionate effect on minority athletes.
According to the NCAA, the four fastest growing women's sports in the past 15 years have been soccer, rowing, lacrosse and golf, none of which have been successful in recruiting large numbers of minorities.
"It's true at Duke that Title IX has disproportionally benefited white female athletes," said Chris Kennedy, associate athletic director. "It's kind of ironic in a way, because we're trying so hard to extend to women what have been given to men all these years."
Duke added rowing in 1999 and women's lacrosse in 1996 largely in order to comply with Title IX, but neither team currently includes any minority athletes.
"[Lacrosse] is perceived as a white-girl sport, without a doubt," said women's lacrosse coach Kerstin Kimel. "I think that presents a little bit of a challenge for some of the girls.... I think it's a sport that a lot of young African Americans don't play. Truthfully, that's just the way it is."
She said that in lacrosse, a number of inner-city programs are working to create more interest in the sport among minorities.
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"Rowing in high school traditionally has been confined to the prep school environment," she said.
Tina Sloan Green, a professor at Temple University and director of the Black Women in Sport Foundation, says that although Title IX has eliminated gender bias in college sports, it might have spawned a greater tilt in racial inequity.
"When you compare now that years have passed, and see who has moved up the ladder, white women have benefited more from Title IX than women of color," Green said. "Sometimes, women are fighting for individual rights against men, and they tend to forget there are other women in the mix."
Kimel said she did not have any specific data, but agreed that for the most part, Title IX has helped more white women.
"From a very, very non-scientific perspective, if you look at those sports, it's sports like softball, crew, golf, and I don't think you see a large number of minorities in any of those sports," she said. "When you look [at that], it has benefited from a white popularity."
Kennedy said each institution's athletic program determines the composition of its athletes. For example, a 15- or 16-sport program might include only women's basketball, track and volleyball, sports that typically draw more minorities.
"Title IX has benefited Duke women's athletes enormously," Kennedy said. "This is a case of unintended consequences."
In the 1980s, when former president Terry Sanford and former director of athletics Tom Butters decided which sports Duke could most likely succeed in, they did not draw from sports in which many minority students participated, Kennedy said.
"They decided not to give scholarships to track, where there's a lot of opportunity for minority women," he said. "That's not what they were thinking about at all, [but] they picked sports that are associated with middle class, affluent kinds of students."
Kennedy noted that in the 1970s, most black students on campus were athletes, but since then, campus diversity has grown exponentially. He added that the athletic program has been committed to recruiting minority athletes, especially outside of football and basketball.
"We can only deal with what's available; it's going to take a societal kind of movement, and there's some problems that may be insurmountable," he said.
Green said role models such as golfer Tiger Woods and tennis players Venus and Serena Williams help attract minorities to new sports, but young minority athletes need access.
Green cited the lack of black women coaches, especially in track and women's basketball, where a higher number of minorities are involved in the sport. Duke not only has no current black head coaches, but has never had a black head coach in history, in a men's or women's sport.
"There are a great pool of African-American women in basketball, but where are the collegiate head coaches?" she asked. "At least, in men's basketball, you see a number of men's African-American coaches. It needs to happen."
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