At Stanford, not everyone welcomed Title IX with open arms. Stanford's Buck Club, now called the Buck/Cardinal Club, led the opposition. It didn't want to share revenue acquired, mostly from football, with women's athletics.
"Any time there is change, there will be resistance," Stanford baseball coach Mark Marquess said. "The Stanford community, the Stanford alumni. I'm old school, but I had three daughters who played sports. It's a lot easier sell when you have daughters who are into sports."
****"I think everyone was concerned about the potential impact on existing programs. [Stanford's Director of Tennis Dick Gould said, reflecting back on 1976.] How could we possibly essentially double the funding we were providing to our eight or so men's programs? We were having enough problems funding what we had. That being said, our Athletic Department really stepped up and sold existing scholarship donors, etc., on the values and responsibilities of women's sports. I am very proud of how our department responded to the challenges of Title IX and of how we sold it to our constituents. Stanford really took the lead implementing Title IX. I believe much of our later success in women's sports is related to the proactive stance Stanford took from the start."
posted by Helen at 8:50 AM
