Phil Riddle
editor@weatherforddemocrat.com
A full slate of agenda items including possibly adding women’s softball awaits Weatherford College trustees when they meet Wednesday.
Weatherford College women’s basketball coach Bob McKinley and his former supervisor Duane Durrett reported the college to the Office of Civil Rights, saying the school “had failed to effectively accommodate the athletic interests and abilities of its female athletes from 2002 to the present.”
In an agreement between the school and the OCR, Weatherford College in March agreed to survey students in regards to athletic opportunities for women.
According to the agreement, if survey results show implementation of a new sports team is appropriate, competition must begin no later than the 2011-12 academic year.
The addition of a women’s sport was a hot-button issue during the recent campaign to elect representatives to the college board.
Four newly-elected members of the Weatherford College board ran on a united platform, which included the consideration of a new women’s sport to address Title IX gender equity issues.
New trustee Joel Watson said when running for the post, the agreement should never have been necessary.
“It saddens me that Weatherford College had to be turned in for [Title IX] noncompliance,” he said, “and now only addresses this issue because the Department of Education threatened to withhold federal funding to our school if an agreement was not reached.”
At the time the agreement was announced, both College President Joe Birmingham and Athletic Director Steven Garippa said they were happy with the pact.
“The OCR recognized the College already has made a commitment to address this issue,” Birmingham said. “so they offered technical assistance on how to achieve full compliance over the next three years...we have begun to implement the process prescribed in the agreement.”
Garripa said, with out without the agreement, the college had been moving toward Title IX compliance.
“Now, however, we are getting the help and the blessing of the OCR in the resolution under way at Weatherford College.”
Dr. Trev Dixon, another of the new trustees, said during the campaign he thinks softball should be immediately added to Weatherford College athletics.
“I believe this is the only way that we can move forward with being in compliance and adding enough scholarship availability,” he said.
Weatherford College currently competes in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and men’s and women’s rodeo.
In other business Wednesday, trustees are expected to discuss the 2009-10 budget; hear updates on campus repair and renovation projects; infrastructure and building upgrades; and results of an employee survey.
In addition, board members are scheduled to elect officers.
Wednesday’s meeting is slated for 3 p.m. in the auditorium of the E.W. Mince Administration Building.
