Male club sports teams at Oswego State typically get more money than their female counterparts, sometimes thousands of dollars more per year.
At the Student Association sports funding forum on Feb. 12, the presenters of the event and student affairs directors Omar van Reenen and Emily Stasko displayed the break-down on funding between club sports. The club women’s ice hockey team budget for 2018 is $7,200, while the men’s club hockey team budget is $37,500. The women’s club rugby team budget for 2018 is $7,300, and the men’s club team has a budget of $18,950. This pattern is seen with other club sports too, such as soccer, volleyball and baseball/softball. Overall, women’s teams receive 65 percent less funding than the men’s teams.
“This really just makes me angry,” Oswego State junior and club rugby player Kerri McGovern said. “There is a lot of frustration, especially to see the numbers. But it is nice that we know now, because last semester nobody knew about this at all, and now seeing how more people are becoming aware of it is good.”
According to the presenters, SA takes a lot into consideration when distributing the money. They consider historical spending of the last two years, the size of the organization, how active the team is and the team’s current spending. However, the issues with how the money is dealt with are much larger.
For example, the ratio of a team’s wins to losses is taken into consideration when their budget is being considered, even though every season of every sport is unpredictable. Also, key financial positions in SA
are held by members of the executive boards of certain club sports teams, creating possible conflicts of interests.
Van Reenen believes the answer to this problem is simple.
“We need equal pay for equal play,” van Reenen said. “It’s been too long where the women’s club sports teams are taking 1,000, 2,000 steps behind because of funding. So time’s up. It’s time to now act and push our campus forward and give women an equal opportunity on campus just as the men in their own clubs.”
The women in the room took turns expressing their thoughts and experiences within their own teams. One person shared that her team used their own equipment they bought out of pocket because their budget was too low to afford essential equipment.
“I do believe some people don’t really know what is going on with the clubs and that’s why I think it’s important for those with high positions to know what they are doing,” said club rugby player Gariella Chebetar. “I just don’t think certain people are equipped for the positions they are in, and I think that needs to change.”
The women in the room came to an agreement that if they do not take a stand now and show people how much of an issue this is, the inequality amongst male and female sports groups at Oswego State may never change.
“I just don’t think it’ll go anywhere for a while unless we keep having talks like this and actually have people show up,” Chebetar said.
Austin Dearborn | The Oswegonian
