BU Receives 'A' in Gender Equity Study
8/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | General
Aug. 23, 2010
Baylor, which ranked fourth nationally among Bowl Championship Series Conference (BCS) members on the scorecard, was one of four Big 12 Conference schools and one of 11 BCS programs nationally to earn an "A" in the study, which evaluated 116 Bowl Subdivision institutions in 11 conferences based on their commitment to providing financial resources for women's athletic teams during the 2006-07 academic year.
Kennedy's cost-benefit study compared total athletic spending per female student-athlete with total athletic spending per male student-athlete, based upon data provided to the U.S. Department of Education for the study period. The application of the analysis consisted of dividing the amount of money spent per male student-athlete by the amount of money spent per female student-athlete, according to Kennedy.
Texas Tech ranked No. 1 in the survey, spending $0.99 per male student-athlete for every dollar spent per female student-athlete. The Red Raiders were followed by Stanford ($1.36), Missouri ($1.39), Baylor ($1.40), Mississippi ($1.42), Nebraska ($1.42), Mississippi State ($1.45), Georgia Tech ($1.48), Duke ($1.48), Cal ($1.49) and Illinois ($1.50).
"These schools (earning A's) are definitely allocating a reasonably high proportion of the athletic expenditure pie to their female athletes," wrote Kennedy in his report.
Texas A&M ($1.53) ranked No. 12 nationally, and was followed in the study by fellow Big 12 members Iowa State (No. 19, $1.71), Colorado (No. 24, $1.90), Texas (No. 35, $2.07), Oklahoma (No. 36, $2.11), Kansas (No. 50, $2.57), Kansas State (No. 51, $2.63) and Oklahoma State (No. 66, $3.50).
Among all FBS institutions surveyed, Eastern Michigan ranked first overall, spending $0.92 per male student-athlete for every dollar spent per female student-athletes, followed by Western Kentucky at $0.98.
The 2006-07 academic year, which was the year scorecard data came from to generate Kennedy's report, marked the second season of Baylor's 18th intercollegiate sport, women's equestrian. In 2010-11, Baylor's 19th varsity sport, competitive cheer, makes its debut.
