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SKIDMORE COLLEGE |
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Athletic Council Annual Report, 2001-2002
Athletic Council is charged in the faculty handbook with recommending to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty policies regarding the Skidmore Athletic program, "including the determination of the scope and level of competition in intercollegiate, club, and intramural sports; eligibility rules; establishment of priorities for the athletic program; and such other matters as may be brought up to the Council's attention by the Athletic Director or by any of the constituent groups of the college community." In 2001-2002, the Athletic Council met twice during the fall and four times during the spring and summer, and also conducted a fair amount of business through e-mail. Our work centered on two key issues - student eligibility for athletics, and compliance with Title IX (gender equity) in Skidmore's Athletic program. At the end of December, the members of Athletic Council worked with John Berman on revising a new Athletic Eligibility proposal based on Jon Ramsey's draft from May 2001. Chuck Joseph then determined that he would work on these revisions with Jon Ramsey to finalize the Athletic Eligibility guidelines. Resolution on the matter is still pending. In the meantime, the current practice is to review the records of individual students on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with the Athletic Director, and determine eligibility status, taking into account compliance with NCAA guidelines. At the end of December John Berman charged Athletic Council with carrying out the gender equity review for Skidmore athletics. This review is part of the overall assessment of the athletics program undertaken by Athletic Review Committee (ARC), on which two members of Athletic Council (Greg Pfitzer and Phyllis Roth) serve. A summary of the gender equity review is to be included in ARC's final report. Athletic Council worked throughout the year, and continues to work, on gender equity, Title IX compliance. As is obvious by the extensive news coverage of this issue, colleges across the country have been grappling with compliance under Title IX. To undertake such a serious and complex investigation on our campus, the Council hired an outside consultant, Janet Judge, Esq., a well known and respected expert on the topic. During her visits to campus Ms. Judge interviewed many constituents of the Athletic program, examined data, attended athletics recognition events, and met with members of Athletic Council and the Dean to discuss the extent and scope of the consultancy. Ms. Judge's final report, labeled "privileged and confidential," was issued in June. Athletic Council's assessment and recommendations concerning the report were delivered to the Dean's office in June. It was a very active and productive year for Athletic Council. We accomplished the major goal of carrying out and in-depth examination of gender equity in athletics at Skidmore. This has resulted in a detailed report that will help us rethink some of Skidmore's policies/priorities in athletics. As the outgoing chair, I would like to thank all the members of Athletic Council for the commitment, dedication, and frankness that they always brought to the discussion on an issue of national importance. We could not have navigated these waters without the experience and the understanding of institutional history that the committee members so willingly shared. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about this report.
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