Finding Aid for University of Michigan. Women's Athletics

History

Prior to 1969, women's sports at the University of Michigan were organized under the Women's Athletic Association (WAA), a student-run organization which was affiliated with the Athletic Conference of American College Women. (For historical background on the WAA, see The University of Michigan An Encyclopedic Survey, Volume IV, available at the Bentley Historical Library.) With the merger of the men's and women's physical education departments in 1970, the WAA was disbanded and individual sports for women were managed and financially supported by student clubs.

The turning point in the development of women's intercollegiate sports at the university came in 1972, when the United States Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendment Act. Title IX banned sexual discrimination in education programs which received federal funding. In the realm of athletics, it required universities which received federal funding to provide equal athletic opportunities for men and women.

In the early 1970s, women athletes at Michigan had complained that the university distributed scholarships unfairly, provided women with less coaching time than men, allocated less travel money to women, and denied equal opportunities for the recruitment of women athletes. Forced to respond to both Title IX and the complaints, President Robben Fleming established the Committee to Study Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (commonly referred to as the "Burns Committee") in 1973 to investigate the development of women's intercollegiate (varsity) sports. Upon the recommendations of the Burns Committee's preliminary report in August 1973 and final report in November 1973, the university established six varsity sports for women in the 1973/74 school year: tennis, basketball, swimming and diving, synchronized swimming, volleyball, and field hockey.

The new women's athletic program was placed under the administrative control of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics. It was headed by an Associate Director of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics reporting to the Athletic Director. Marie Hartwig was named the first women's athletic director. An Advisory Committee on Women's Intercollegiate Athletics was appointed to assist her in developing and operating the women's varsity program. This committee was also to serve as a search committee for the next associate director. Hartwig retired in 1976 and was succeeded as associate director by Virginia Hunt, who held the position for less than one year. In 1977 Phyllis Ocker was named associate director of women's athletics. Ocker had been a staff member of the university since 1961, serving as assistant professor in the School of Education, and as field hockey coach (1974-1978). Ocker was succeeded by Peggy Bradley-Doppes in 1991.

From 1974 to 1981, women's sports at Michigan operated according to the rules of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, a national organization that tried to provide women's athletics with an alternative to the NCAA. Michigan's women's teams competed in two intercollegiate associations: the Midwest Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) and the State of Michigan Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (SMAIAW).

In 1981 women's varsity sports at the university came under the aegis of the NCAA, and began competing in the Big Ten conference. This was a controversial move as many women believed it decreased the amount of input women had in the administration and development of their varsity sports and represented a very different philosophy of women's sports than that of the AIAW.

The university's compliance with Title IX was slow, leading to the filing of additional complaints and to investigations by the Department of Health Education and Welfare in the late 1970s. These, in turn, led to an expansion of the women's program and an increase in financial support for women athletes, although it was not until 1989 that the university fully complied with Title IX in the area of scholarships.

Phyllis Ocker retired in December 1990. She led the struggle for women's athletics at the university during difficult and trying years. By the time she stepped down, the number of varsity sports for women had grown to eleven, (gymnastics, softball, cross country, soccer, track, and golf were added, synchronized swimming was dropped) and total spending for women's athletics had increased from $100,000 to $2.4 million.

Collection Scope and Content Note

The Women's Athletics records document the evolution of varsity sports for women at the University of Michigan, and the struggles women engaged in for equity in funding, coaching, facilities, and scholarships. The bulk of the collection represents the administrative files from Phyllis Ocker's tenure as Associate Director for Women's Intercollegiate Athletics. The records document the internal development and management of the women's athletics program, governance of women's athletics through the various intercollegiate conferences and associations with which the program was affiliated, the implementation of Title IX and subsequent internal and external complaints and investigations, and the management and operation of individual sports teams. (Additional material, including media guides, game programs, and photographs for individual sports teams, and microfilmed news clipping scrapbooks can be found in the Bentley Library in the records of the University of Michigan, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Sports Information Office.)

The Topical File Series, arranged alphabetically, includes information on a variety of administrative and policy issues. Among the significant files are the "Burns Committee Report," 1973, advocating the establishment of a full program of intercollegiate sports for women and exploring the requirements for facilities, coaching, organizational framework, and finances; the "M Award Controversy" includes correspondence on the debate over whether women varsity athletes should receive the same "M" letter award as male athletes, with correspondents including Don Canham, "Bo" Schembechler, Johnny Orr, members of the "M Club" and several women alumni; "Admissions Information" includes material on procedures and guidelines for recruiting women athletes; and the "Academic Advisory Committee," 1977-1985 file containing minutes, reports and statistics on academic eligibility and performance by sport. The file on "Athletic Scholarship Information" is closed to researchers for FERPA privacy reasons. It includes yearly information on the number and amount of athletic scholarships and other financial aid awarded to women athletes.

The Administrative Records series documents the work of a number of departmental and university committees and the management of the women's athletics program. The principal files in the Administrative Records series include: Advisory Committee on Recreation, Intramurals, and Sports Clubs; Advisory Committee on Women's Intercollegiate Athletics; Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics; Budget; Salary and Personnel; Championships and Tournaments Hosted; and Individual Sports.

The Advisory Committee on Women's Intercollegiate Athletics, 1974-1976, was formed to assist the Director of Women's Athletics in developing and operating the women's varsity program. It also acted as a search committee to replace Women's Athletic Director Marie Hartwig in 1976. The file includes minutes, correspondence, and reports as well as petitions to establish new sports at the varsity level. The folder for 1974 includes a brief summary of the committee's work.

The Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics file (boxes 2 and 8) contains minutes and some correspondence of three committees of the Board as well as minutes and correspondence of the Board itself, 1976-May 1988. The Long Range Planning Committee, 1976-1979, dealt primarily with the establishment of new varsity sports for women but considered many aspects many aspects of Title IX implementation. The Women's Athletics Committee, 1976-1980, is a small file of minutes and notes relating primarily to the governance and administration of women's athletics. The Board in Control minutes file appears to be a complete run of minutes from the time Phyllis Ocker became Associate Athletic Director through May 1988. This complements the Board in Control minutes found in the Don Canham papers and the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics records.

The Budget and Salary Personnel files contain summary reports on yearly expenditures and income by sport and on coaches salaries as well as some correspondence relating to hiring of coaches.

Championships and Tournaments Hosted includes administrative and publicity material for AIAW, Big Ten, MAIAW, and SMAIAW championships held at Michigan as well the Dominos Wolverine Classic basketball tournament and the Nike Classic field hockey tournament. Some files contain tournament programs and official results.

The Individual Sports, 1972-1988 file is comprised of correspondence, budget information, rosters, clippings, and occasional season summaries prepared by coaches which assess overall performances of individual teams. The file is arranged by year and sport.

The Conferences and Governing Bodies series includes several of the most important files documenting Women's Athletics participation in three intercollegiate athletic associations: the MAIAW (Midwest Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), the SMAIAW (State of Michigan Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), and the Big Ten. All of these files contain information on the governance of women's athletics programs at Michigan and other schools, the conduct of sports sponsored by the associations, the histories of the associations, and to some extent the "philosophy" of women's athletics.

The MAIAW series, 1972-1983, includes a historical review of the association, handbooks outlining regulations and procedures, and minutes of the commissioners' meetings.

The SMAIAW file includes the constitution and bylaws of the association, handbooks, commissioners' minutes, and policies and procedures for each sponsored sport.

The Big Ten series includes a number of topical files and minutes and reports of several committees dealing with governance of women's athletics on member campuses, the integration of women's sports into the Big Ten administrative structure, and the management of the individual women's sports sponsored by the conference. The most significant of the topical files are "Governance of Women's Athletics, 1976-1980" and "Conference Governance Retreat, 1987-1988." The most important committee minutes include the "Joint Group," 1976 and 1982-1988; the "Women's Program Group," Sept. 1981-May 1985; and the "Women's Athletic Administrators," May 1985-1988.

The implementation of Title IX regulations concerning women's athletics at Michigan (and to some extent at other schools) is documented in the Title IX subgroup. The file "Chronology of Implementation" provides a brief introduction to the university's and the Athletic Department's response to Title IX and the development of women's varsity sports through 1979. The "Correspondence and Reports" file was compiled by the women's athletics administrators. It includes correspondence of the administrators as well as copies of Title IX related correspondence between other university officials such as Don Canham, Virginia Nordby, President Robben Fleming, university legal counsel, and the Board in Control; officials of the MAIAW, Big Ten conference and other Big Ten schools; and the Department of Health Education and Welfare. This is probably the most complete single file of Title IX correspondence, but the researcher should also examine other collections including Donald Canham, Eunice Burns, Marie Hartwig, and Marcus Plant and other members of the Board in Control of Athletics, as well as the records of various U of M administrative offices including the President, General Counsel, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Office of Student Affairs, and Affirmative Action Office.

Other significant files in the Title IX series include: the Athletic Department compliance reports; the files on the three complaints filed against the Athletic Department which resulted in internal or HEW investigations; HEW Hearings and Regulations, which include reprints of the Title IX legislation and HEW enforcement regulations; newspaper clippings; and a number of articles and reports on Title IX and women's athletics. Also included here are minutes of the Ann Arbor Schools Title IX Monitoring Committee of which Phyllis Ocker was a member.

The small Phyllis Ocker series includes biographical material and notes for speeches.

Photographs include an aerial shot of Palmer Field, a drawing of the proposed Women's Athletic building, Phyllis Ocker portraits, and several women's team photos.

Arrangement

Contents List