College suggests it may be in violation of Title 9 and female soccer team may correct a male/female inequity; 5-year plan in the works to use Foundation to support all athletic scholarships; lowering out-state tuition for athletes will allow wider national recruiting by coaches
The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board had a far-ranging discussion about student athletic scholarships at its October meeting. The discussion was a part of the overall consideration of the tuition and scholarship proposal brought to it for approval by the Community College Administration.
It was revealed by Vice President Rodney Jenkins that the College may be operating in violation Title 9, a federal statute that says that Yavapai Community College is legally required to provide girls and boys with equitable sports opportunities.
When addressing the Governing Board, Vice President Rodney Jenkins explained that “we are adding women’s soccer and it’s a Title 9 add. Fifty-eight percent of our underrepresented students are female. Forty-two are men. We are at 62 percent of our athletes being men. We have to bring that fifty-eight percent in line within three percentage points and adding a sport is probably the only way to do it . . ..”
He also said that the plan is to have 85 percent of those students on the [female] soccer team come from Yavapai County.
The reduction in out-state tuition for student athletes will allow Yavapai Coaches to recruit nationally rather than in the 6 state area. At present the out-state tuition rate puts them at a recruiting disadvantage.
The College also made it clear that it is working on a five-year plan to remove all athletic scholarships from the College’s General Fund budget and rely on the Community College Foundation to raise that money.
An edited version of the long discussion is contained in the twelve minute video below. You may view the entire discussion by going to the Governing Board Community College web site or by clicking here.