Men’s Sports Cut at Northridge; Equity Law Cited

NORTHRIDGE — In a drastic effort to comply with gender equity laws, Cal State Northridge on Wednesday eliminated four men’s athletic teams, including the baseball and volleyball programs that brought national attention to the suburban campus.

Although other schools have cut sports in an attempt to reach gender equity--UCLA eliminated both men’s swimming and gymnastics in 1994--Northridge this spring found itself in a particularly serious funding situation at the same time it became legally obligated to meet gender requirements.

On the one hand the university has an $800,000 athletic department budget deficit. Yet beginning in the fall of 1998, under terms of the settlement of a 1993 lawsuit brought by the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, all schools in the California State University system must raise their ratio of female athletes to about 50%.

Women account for 39% of varsity athletes at Cal State Northridge.

Prevented by the deficit from adding women’s programs--water polo, rifle and lacrosse were under consideration--Northridge administrators decided to cut the four men’s sports: baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming. Of the five sports being considered for elimination, only the men’s golf team--with eight members and 1 1/2 scholarships--was spared.

San Francisco State was forced to balance its numbers by cutting football. Long Beach and Fullerton already had done so.

“Having been through this before, I can tell you it’s something you don’t want to go through twice,” said Long Beach State Athletic Director Bill Shumard, who was involved in eliminating programs at Fullerton. “This is very painful and depressing.”

Fullerton currently fields teams in seven men’s sports and eight women’s sports. At Long Beach, seven men’s and seven women’s sports are offered.

“If proper planning had taken place, none of this would have happened,” said Betsy Alden, the athletic director at San Francisco State, who also serves as president of the National Assn. of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators.

The cuts will save about $520,000. The rest of the deficit will be made up by cutting operating expenses in other sports, many of which are already operating on a shoestring.

But the gender equity issue isn’t the only cause of Northridge’s money woes. Most of the deficit is a result of the university’s move last fall into the Big Sky Conference, which required it to spend more money on its football program and more for travel for all sports.

News of the pending cuts has caused an uproar in the San Fernando Valley following a May 28 Times story that first detailed the extent of the proposed changes. Most comments seemed to question how the university could eliminate sports so popular in the region.

“It’s mind-boggling that you could eliminate baseball, volleyball and soccer in Southern California,” said John Price, the volleyball coach of 12 years.

UC Irvine men’s soccer Coach George Kuntz said he was on the phone Wednesday scrambling to find opponents to replace Northridge on the Anteaters’ Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule.

“It’s always sad to see a men’s soccer program dropped with the numbers of youth soccer players in this country growing,” Kuntz said. “It’s one of the fastest-growing youth sports in America. Kids are looking for places to go to continue their education and play soccer.

“Arguably, we’re the top conference in the country, and Northridge has done well.”

An architect of the gender equity accord was sharply critical.

“This is certainly not what we had in mind,” said Linda Joplin, a NOW official who led the 1993 lawsuit. “I think that Northridge is not living up to the spirit of the agreement.”

Ronald Kopita, the Northridge administrator who along with CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson was responsible for the cuts, said he agonized over the decision. Wilson was unavailable for comment.

“In my years in higher education, and I’ve been in it for 30 years, I would rank this as the most difficult thing I’ve had to deal with,” said Kopita, vice president for student affairs.

“I feel terrible,” said Paul Bubb, the Northridge athletic director. “The bottom line is there are laws I need to comply with and budget constraints I need to meet.”

The golf team was spared because of the possibility that golf could become a required sport for membership in the Big Sky. If it is not added in the next year, golf will be eliminated and replaced with tennis.

“To be erased, it’s like slapping us in the face,” said Jason Gause, a third baseman on this year’s baseball squad, which at one point ranked among the top 20 NCAA Division I teams in the nation. “Our program was so good. All the time and work is for nothing.”

The scholarships of athletes on the eliminated teams will be honored for one year. NCAA rules allow athletes affected in such situations to transfer without losing eligibility, and two Northridge pitchers did that earlier this week.

Juniors Benny Flores (El Dorado High) and Erasmo Ramirez (Saddleback High) transferred to Fullerton, whose basebal coach, George Horton, said four other Matador players have contacted Fullerton about transferring.

Baseball Coach Mike Batesole, who played at Fullerton, has a guaranteed contract for two more years. The other coaches will receive severance packages, Bubb said.

Past and present Northridge coaches, athletes and high school recruits who had committed to attend Northridge were shocked and bitter about the announcement.

Their anger was fueled by the fact that baseball and volleyball had been two of the school’s most popular and successful sports. The baseball team has made it to postseason play in four of its seven seasons at the NCAA Division I level. The men’s volleyball team finished second in the nation in 1993, losing to UCLA in the championship game on national television.

“I’m 100% disgusted,” said Coley Kyman, who played volleyball and football at Northridge from 1989-93.

On campus, students--most of whom had cursory knowledge of the situation--universally lamented the cuts. But there was a range of opinion about the fairness of cutting men’s activities as a way to come into compliance, and the potential result the changes might have on the character of the university.

Watching over the campus pool Wednesday, lifeguard and graduate student Arlene Mutter said the loss of men’s sports was sad, but blaming gender equity laws “is the same kind of scapegoating that happens with sexism and racism and ageism, and all those other -isms. Men’s and women’s sports should be equal.”

Like most students, however, the 27-year-old Mutter said officials should search harder for a way to boost women’s sports rather than simply doing away with men’s teams.

The creators of the gender equity law--commonly known as Title IX--expected that universities would gradually add women’s teams over a number of years. But, in the course of its 25-year history, little about Title IX has gone as expected.

The legislation was written in 1972. It stated that “no person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex . . . be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity.” The measure was challenged but after several court battles, Title IX’s jurisdiction was restored in 1988.

Athletic directors began scrambling to comply at a time when tight budgets would not allow them to add women’s teams. As a result, a recent NCAA study found, women’s gains over the last five years have come at the expense of eliminating men’s teams.

UCLA cut its successful men’s gymnastics squad. Notre Dame cut wrestling. And the rush to comply accelerated after a 1991 court ruling allowed plaintiffs to recover attorneys’ fees and damages from gender equity lawsuits.

Times staff writers Jeff Fletcher, Martin Henderson, Jason Reid and Eric Slater contributed to this report.