The university should be complimented for its decision to award varsity letters to former female student-athletes.
MSU’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced Tuesday it will award varsity “S” letters to female student-athletes who competed before 1980.
MSU began recognizing women for participation in varsity athletics in 1975, three years after the NCAA passed Title IX. However, varsity letters were not issued to female athletes until 1980.
Title IX is a “federal law that requires gender equality in scholastic athletic programs.” MSU has given varsity status to several women’s sports, such as crew, and will take varsity status from the men’s gymnastics team in May to comply with the law.
A Women’s Varsity Recognition Celebration will be held in February 2002 to award the letters. A yearlong search has begun to track down women in a variety of sports.
MSU is the first college in the Big Ten and the third in the state to recognize former female student-athletes. Northern Michigan recognized female athletes in 1997 and Central Michigan University in October 2000.
The recognition of these women is long overdue. A group of former female athletes has been working with the Varsity Alumni “S” Club - an organization for letter winners to support MSU athletics - since 1982 to gain recognition for female athletes. The university could have made efforts at recognition then, but however late, current efforts to recognize these athletes should be commended.
These women are deserving of recognition, no matter how delayed. They played sports with the same passion as men, but without scholarships or varsity recognition and with very little funding. These women set the standard for female athletes today.
Despite prior oversight in many areas, MSU has not completely ignored female athletes. Ten women have been inducted into the hall of fame at the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center.
The university has a hard job tracking down eligible women. Records prior to 1980 are poor, and finding women, especially those who no longer use their maiden names, will be a challenge. However, the university should be applauded for giving itself a year to conduct a thorough search.
Every effort, no matter how hard, should be made to track these women down. While the university has no obligation to do this, now that it has made the commitment to do so, it should do the best job it can to recognize as many women as possible.
While there are still issues of equality in terms of sex and sport, conditions for female athletes have greatly improved. The women who competed before Title IX deserve recognition beyond what the university has already given them.
Anything MSU can do to help women integrate more completely into an athletic community should be supported in every way possible.
While it is long overdue, it is admirable that the university is making efforts to recognize female student-athletes who have been ignored for so long.
