Solution for women’s field hockey team needed
I am an undergraduate student with a serious concern. As an advocate for women and female student activities on this campus, I have come across an important issue I am hoping this board has accidentally overlooked (“New turf leaves field hockey without home,” Friday).
The Board of Trustees of CMU has done a fantastic job of addressing issues of paramount concern of its constituency since I started attending this institution in spring 2002. During a time of financial crisis and disparate trimming of the fat, programs needed to maintain our diversity and stature in the state have been gratefully saved and tuition challenges have been met. For this, I commend this board and those who have worked with them. As a student, I understand the delicate line that has to be run so as to not run a ship under water financially.
Recently our Student Government Association passed a resolution giving you (the Board of Trustees) our full support in adding an athletics fee increase to incoming freshmen and transfer students. This was accomplished through an understanding that this would allow the athletics department to gain the finances necessary make necessary improvements to our football field that is no longer safe to play on. This fee support was given also to assist our university in better providing for female athletes on this campus. Such a fee could be used to add another female sport, such as golf, which would add potentially 12 to 16 female scholarship-ed athletes.
At present this campus has an undergraduate student body population comprised of 58.2 percent women and 41.8 percent men, according to our Registrar’s Office. We also, at present, have scholarship-ed athletes at 312 males or 58.4 percent and 222 females or 41.6 percent. This to some would not seem strange, yet our institution has 90 men on scholarship over the women when the campus is dominated by women. OK, so now we have greater than a football team advantage toward men.
Yet, in this time of disparity, we have approved a major solution for our facility problems facing the football program without equally addressing the inadequacies we have for our women’s field hockey team. We do not in any way wish for this to be perceived as an anti-football issue. I attended the Board of Trustees meeting personally this past month and heard that our input on spending money was needed.
The Board of Trustees is seeking student input on how to spend more than $4 million that will be in the campus improvement fund in June, according to CM Life. I and many others (approximately all of the female students) wish for the funds that presently exist to address this serious situation. The ladies who represent our institution of higher learning deserving our support and this field is the least we can do.
I have been told that the athletic department was told to find solutions. The solution sits before us all. It can only be satisfied fairly by having an on-campus field built for the field hockey team. Their sport requires a specific field turf that is not what our football team requires. The two sports require different sizes and different turf textures. Nor is it feasible to ask them to travel 100 percent of the time and make all games away. It is also not feasible to ask them to consider another school’s field home. I ask, “Would we ask our football team to play on Alma College’s field?” I know we would not.
This specific turf can be used for other purposes. Band practices are one. Another use for the field is the multitude of camps for band and football that occur during our summer. Still yet, our intramural programs, soccer, field-hockey and even lacrosse would have a field that is not filled with dips, uneven playing fields, occasional rocks and mud during the rainy days.
We do not have time to play with this issue. Herb Deromedi, our fine athletics director, will vouch for the fact that this field must break ground soon for them to be able to play next year. Show this student body you support equal opportunity by doing this quickly and I assure you that the impression that many women on this campus possess (that they are second-class citizens) will change.
