Northridge Finally Seems to Be on the Wright Path

Her white hair tied neatly in a bun, 68-year-old grandmother Cathie Wright seems to be an unlikely candidate to impact Cal State Northridge athletics.

But Wright, a Republican state senator whose district includes Northridge, became a white knight last summer when she secured $586,000 in public education funds to rescue four men’s sports cut by Northridge administrators.

Wright ordered the formation of the task force that early this month recommended Northridge permanently keep the four sports--baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming--while moving swiftly to meet gender-equity laws.

Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson quickly followed the recommendations, announcing Dec. 22 that the sports will be reinstated permanently.

Still, Wright’s work is not finished.

The task force report will go to the state legislature in March and Wright will search for state funds to help all 20 Cal State schools comply with gender-equity laws.

Wright believes the report will play a larger role within the Cal State system because it suggests the agreement between the universities and the California chapter of the National Organization for Women is extremely difficult to meet without gutting men’s programs.

Wright has her own opinion of the agreement.

“It was a horrible decision,” she said. “Why go beyond the federal government and Title IX? I think the Cal State schools should really try to renegotiate.”

Specifically, Wright believes football should be removed from the equations that ensure proportionality in budget, scholarships and participation between men and women.

There is a women’s counterpart for every men’s sport but football.

“If there is equity in every sport but football, then we truly have equity,” she said, adding, “However this goes, I predict Northridge will have been the beacon.”

Wright remembers growing up in Old Forge, Pa., playing basketball the only way girls were allowed to do so: three-on-three, half court, with double-dribbling allowed.

“Women have come such a long way in sports, it’s a great thing,” she said. “You don’t want to hurt women’s ability to compete and I don’t think anyone is suggesting that. But I do not believe you want to see all sports removed because you couldn’t get one for one.”

Although she is not a big sports fan, Wright nevertheless became incensed by the cuts at Northridge.

“It was the way in which the cuts were made,” she said. “Taking sports away from the university that were so successful, it gave the impression they were saying to those young men, ‘You don’t count.’ ”

Wright said she and Wilson never locked horns before the sports were cut. In fact, Wright professes a strong admiration for the Northridge president.

“That’s what really surprised me, that she would make a decision like that without getting the community, faculty and students involved,” Wright said. “I think a lesson was learned from that experience.”