UH to fulfill Title IX musts by upgrading gyms, salaries

Before heading to the airport for her team’s game at Arizona today and Las Vegas next week, University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Laura Beeman fastbreaked through a statement-making appearance before the school’s Board of Regents.

In an exchange with the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, which had requested an accounting of UH’s compliance with Title IX, also known as the Patsy T. Mink Act, by the athletic administration, Beeman was its most compelling advocate, lauding the school’s approach Thursday.

She told regents, “where we are with our gender equity (stance) is better than any institution I’ve ever been (at).” Beeman said, “It does not mean that we don’t need to get better. It does not mean that there is not still room for growth.” But, she noted, “I’m excited where we are as a department.”

She might have been even more effusive in her comments had she been in the room later when athletic department officials told regents they are reviewing department’s salary ranges for head coaches with an eye toward the likelihood of readjusting them to better “ensure men’s and women’s teams are staffed by coaches of equitable quality,” as the “Gender Equity/Title IX Update” report put it.

As athletic director David Matlin acknowledged afterward, the trend would likely be in an upward, not downward, direction.

The Mink Act mandates equality in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Salaries for coaches of women’s teams, along with long-lagging facilities upgrades, are among the key areas UH said it is addressing in coming months. The $9.3 million renovation of the 35-year old practice Gyms I and II is scheduled to begin in 2018 as is the $2 million resurfacing of the well-worn track at the Clarence T. C. Ching Athletic Complex.

Women’s basketball is one of the areas with the widest disparity of salary ranges, listing ($185,000-$400,000) for the head coach of the men’s team and ($118,488-$209,784) for the women’s team under ranges established in 2014.

In addressing salaries, UH officials said, rather than dollar-for-dollar levels, they are attempting to reach “equal market value” benchmarks based upon levels in the conferences UH competes in and comparable conferences.

By policy, pay ranges are set by the regents based upon recommendations from the athletic department. Outside consultants specializing in Title IX issues hired by UH have advised the school to reanalyze them, Matlin said.

Any adjustments are targeted to be completed by the start of the fall semester, according to the department’s most recent gender equity plan — “Beyond Gender (2017-2022)” — revised this month.

The “funding source” for the salary initiative was listed as, “to be determined.”

Lois Manin, UH’s Senior Woman Administrator for athletics, told the regents athletics is in compliance with Title IX under the standard of “substantial proportionality” — one of the three metric prongs. It requires “providing opportunities for participation in intercollegiate sports by gender in approximate proportion to undergraduate enrollment.”

Beeman said renovating and upgrading Gyms I and II, where men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams practice when climate conditions permit, “are absolutely going to help in recruiting.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.