November 15 2010 special advertising section

THE

Collegian

SPECIAL SECTION

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT FRESNO STATE'S ATHLETIC BUDGET

PAGE 2

THE COLLEGIAN • ATHLETICS FUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, TONY PETERSEN • COLLEGIAN@CSUFRESNO.EDU

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Lawsuits a stain on athletics dept

By Danielle Gilbert The Collegian The $900,000 settlement between the WAC and Fresno State is not the first or most expensive in Fresno State’s athletic department history.

Athletic scandals and legal battles between Fresno State and current and former

Associated Press

Fresno State women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein walks the sideline during a game aginst Washington State on Dec. 9, 2004.

Johnson-Klein was fired after a three-week investigation in which the school determined she inappropriately obtained pain medication from students and staff and violated NCAA rules.

female employees may be over, but they will not be forgotten.

President John D. Welty has been in office since 1991.

Under his administration, five separate lawsuits have been filed on counts of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and violation of Title IX rules.

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination within federallyfunded institutions.

The patter n of discrimination against current and former female employees in Fresno State’s athletic department has cost the university, and by proxy California taxpayers, more than $17 million—more than the cost of construction for Bulldog Stadium and the new aquatic center combined.

Fresno State has continued to maintain Title IX compliance in its athletic programs since 2008.

President Welty developed the Gender Equity Plan Task Force, established a women’s lacrosse team and reinstated the women’s swimming and diving team. An NCAA regulation size pool will open midfall in time for the swim and dive season.

Lindy Vivas (1991-2004) Former Fresno State volleyball coach Lindy Vivas filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging her contract was not renewed in 2004 for discrimi-

natory issues. She claimed she was not fired for her performance, but for her gender, marital status, her perceived sexual orientation and her outspoken advocacy for gender equality.

Fresno State’s attor ney stated in trial that Vivas’ contract was not renewed because she failed to meet performance objectives, which were to earn a WAC championship and schedule the minimum requirement of games against top-25 teams.

In July 2007, the Fresno County Superior Court ruled in favor of Vivas and awarded her $5.85 million in damages.

The case was later settled for $5.18 million.

S t a c y Jo h n s o n - K l e i n (2002-2004) Former Fresno State women’s basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein filed a lawsuit against the university in 2005 for wrongful ter mination.

Johnson-Klein claimed that the firing was retaliation for her complaints about sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

Fresno State President John Welty accused Johnson-Klein of repeatedly and inappropriately obtaining prescription pain relievers from players and staff members, financial improprieties, insubordination and committing an NCAA violation by allowing a play-

er’s parent to stay in a university-paid hotel room. The university fired Johnson-Klein on the grounds of violation of school policy and because her sometimes erratic behavior endangered her players.

In December 2007, a unanimous jury awarded JohnsonKlein $19.1 million, the largest discrimination retribution in history. The university was found liable on all three counts of discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation. The case was settled later for $7.3 million.

D i a n e M i l u t i n ov i c h (1979-2001) Former Fresno State associate athletics director Diane Milutinovich filed a lawsuit against the university in 2004 for sexual discrimination. She alleged that her firing was retaliation for advocating gender equality.

Milutinovich was reassigned to a management position in the University Student Union because her job in the athletic department had been eliminated in budget reductions.

In October 2007, an out-ofcourt settlement of $3.5 million was reached between Milutinovich and F resno State. The settlement included associated legal costs and called for the university to honor Milutinovich with the honorary title "emeritus” for

her 27 years of service.

Margie Wright (1985-Present) Fresno State softball coach Margie Wright filed a complaint with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in 2007, accusing the school of retaliating against her for speaking up for female players.

Though Wright never filed a lawsuit against Fresno State, the school settled out of court to avoid more lengthy and costly litigation.

In June 2008, an out-of-court settlement of $605,000 was reached between Wright and Fresno State. The settlement included an associated legal cost of $45,000, $157,000 cash and $250,000 for an annuity.

R a m o n a Pa g e l ( 2 0 0 5 2008) Former Fresno State men’s and women’s assistant track coach Ramona Pagel filed a lawsuit against the university in 2008 for gender discrimination and Title IX retaliation after not being considered for the head coaching position in which she applied. Pagel alleged that the university had failed to hire her for retaliatory reasons Fresno State settled for $300,000 to avoid more lengthy and costly litigation.

Title IX affects athletics budget

By Ana Mendoza The Collegian Title IX was designed to guarantee women and men equal benefits and opportunities in all government-funded institutions. Many intercollegiate sports have been eliminated and Title IX has been blamed for it.

Title IX, a federal genderequity law, was passed in 1972, but Fresno State began complying with the law in 1993.

Fresno State joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1991.

Under President John Welty’s tenure, Fresno State became part of Division 1-A. To be a Division I, II or III university, the school has to follow Title IX. If it fails to do so, it would not be able to compete in athletics.

“Title IX applies to all divisions in athletics,” Dr. Welty said.

“Title IX is a federal law

THE

that the institution must comply with if it wishes to continue to receive federal funds,” senior associate director of athletics Betsy Mosher said.

“Title IX applies to all areas and programs of the university, not just athletics.”

Budget cuts, Division I-A requirements and Title IX have contributed to the elimination of many popular male sports, including soccer, swimming, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

Title IX has helped the development of women sports.

Before the law was enacted, there were less than 30,000 women athletes; the number has since increased to 150,000.

The number of women’s college teams has also doubled.

According to ESPN, before Title IX the only professional sports women had were tennis and golf. Today women have professional “leagues for soccer, volleyball, bowling and two for basketball. Women

Collegian

The Collegian is a student-run publication that serves the Fresno State community on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Views expressed in The Collegian do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or university.

The Collegian California State University, Fresno 5201 N. Maple Ave., M/S SA42 Fresno, CA 93740-8027 News Line: (559) 278-2486 Business Line: (559) 278-5735 http://collegian.csufresno.edu

have even made inroads in the traditionally male sport of boxing.”

To comply with Title IX, a university’s ratio of female athletes to male athletes must reflect its female to male ratio of the student body.

Universities who have more female students also have to have more female athletes.

“To be a NCAA Division-I Football Bowl Subdivision member, you must sponsor at least 16 sports and also meet the requirement for the minimum number of men’s and women’s sports,” Mosher said.

Fresno State is currently one of a few state universities that have achieved athletic success in Division I-A, but at a great monetary cost. To comply with Division I-A requirem e n t s, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e California State University, from 1994 to 2000, Fresno State spent $8.3 million renovating and constructing facilities for women’s sports.

S i n c e 2 0 0 0 , eve n m o r e money has been spent on athletic programs. Fresno State is planning a $9.5 million building for faculty offices, lockers and labs that will complement a $7.5 million aquatics center that is currently under construction on the southwest corner of Cedar and Barstow Avenues. According to The Fresno Bee, these facilities are needed to comply with Title IX. In the spring of 2008, students were asked for a $50 fee increase to help the athletics department comply with Division I-A requirements, but students voted against it.

Subsequently, the Campus Fee Advisory Committee passed a “modified recommendation,” and students saw a $32 fee increase per semester.

“Cer tain spor ts should just not be counted [for Title IX] because you just can’t not count football,” assistant track and field coach Lisa Misipeka

Letters to the Editor (collegian@csufresno.edu) All letters submitted to The Collegian must not exceed 250 words in length, must be type-written, and must be accompanied by a full name and phone number to verify content. The Collegian reserves the right to edit all material for length, content, spelling and grammar, as well as the right to refuse publication of any material submitted.

All material submitted to The Collegian becomes property of The Collegian.

Each member of the campus community is permitted one copy of The Collegian. Subscriptions are available for $25, on a semester basis. Staff positions at The Collegian are open to students of all majors. Contact the Editor in Chief for details. All content Copyright © 2010 The Collegian.

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT FRESNO STATE'S ATHLETIC BUDGET

said. “It’s an awesome program—every school needs to have it, it brings money and it brings spirit to the campus.

So football is an awesome sport to have, but when you have all these other sports, we are all held to different numbers—some sports are head count, some sports are partial scholarships, some are all full scholarships. So we just need to change some things across the board: NCAA, NAIA, D-I, D-II, D-III, all of them, just the numbers need to change.”

In a letter written by a g roup of faculty and professors at Califor nia State University, San Jose to their trustee in 2003 to convince t h e m t o s t e p d ow n f ro m Division 1-A athletics, they wrote: “Fresno State has the only successful Division I-A football team in the CSU, and yet it does not stand out as a more prestigious university as a result.”

Editor in Chief Photo Editor Presentation/Graphics Developer

Tony Petersen Matt Weir Michael Uribes

Staff Writers

Tara Albert Danielle Gilbert Ben Ingersoll Anna Jacobsen Ana Mendoza Vongni Yang

Business Manager Advertising Faculty Adviser Editorial Faculty Adviser Online Faculty Adviser

Virginia Sellars-Erxleben Jan Edwards Reaz Mahmood Don Priest

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2010

THE COLLEGIAN • ATHLETICS FUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, TONY PETERSEN • COLLEGIAN@CSUFRESNO.EDU

PAGE 3

Fresno State student athletics fees 3rd lowest in WAC

By Anna Jacobsen The Collegian Fresno State is the only school in the Western Athletic Conference to charge students for football games, and some students think they’re getting a bad deal.

Chaster Harrison, a Fresno State criminology senior, said, “There are other programs here, like other spor ting events that are free, but football is not free. That’s not fair.”

What students like Harrison don’t realize, however, is they are actually paying less for athletics than students at other WAC schools, which charge students not through ticket revenues but through athletics fees.

In a recent article, USA Today ranked WAC schools by student athletics fees. In the ranking, which examined fees from the 2008-09 fiscal year, Fresno State ranked fourth lowest in athletics fees charged to students. Since those statistics were compiled, Fresno State has dropped to third lowest in athletics fees.

At the lowest end of the student spectrum is Louisiana Tech, which doesn’t charge students fees for athletics.

However, like every WAC school besides Fresno State, Louisiana Tech provides free football tickets to students.

H aw a i i w a s t i e d w i t h L o u i s i a n a Te c h f o r f e e s charged in the 2008-09 fiscal year, but in a decision announced this July, Hawaii will begin charging students

in 2011 $100 a year for athletics fees. This change has bumped Hawaii up to third lowest in the WAC for fees charged.

Fresno State comes in at $39 per semester, part of the $62 IRA fee and $34.50 student body fee students pay each semester. Each year, students at Fresno State pay a total of $78 for athletics.

The highest student athletics fee in the WAC is at the University of Idaho, which charges an average of $180 per student each year.

At Boise State, home of the WAC‘s most successful football program, students pay an average of $150 a year in athletics fees. Boise’s football team is currently ranked No. 4 nationally in the BCS and AP standings.

Each Fresno State student can purchase a football ticket for $15 per game.

Paul Oliaro, vice president for student affairs at Fresno State, said that the price of student football tickets is not going to increase any time soon.

“A couple of years ago, the athletics department said they would not increase the price of tickets for students, at least for the next couple of years,” Oliaro said.

He added that except for football, students have free admission to all Fresno State games.

“Students now have access to all other sports with no charge. That includes men’s basketball tickets as well as women’s basketball tickets

and tickets to other events.”

Associate athletics director Paul Ladwig offered insight as to why Fresno State charges

for football tickets. “[Football is] a revenue source for the athletic department. The student fee covers the rest of the

sports. There’s a correlation between the revenue stream via the student ticket price and the student fee.”

Fresno State student fees for athletics are the third lowest in the WAC. This information shows the total fees for each school in the conference. All data was compiled by the USA Today, except for Hawaii, which came from the school's website.

Infographic by Michael Uribes / The Collegian

WAC settlement has benefits

By Ben Ingersoll and Vongni Yang The Collegian In t h e w ake of a c a m pus wide financial cutback, Fresno State athletics caught a huge monetary break on Oct. 27 when it avoided a $5 million lawsuit in an agreement to stay in the Western Athletic Conference for one more year.

On Aug. 18, the Mountain West Conference sent formal invitations to both Fresno State and Nevada to join its conference, a plan conference commissioner Craig Thompson hoped would come into effect starting next season.

But WAC commissioner Karl Benson had other plans.

Benson lashed out at both Fresno State and Nevada, saying the move was “selfish” and immediately pursued a lawsuit with both schools. The details of the lawsuit included each school being forced to split a $10 million exit fee for not reaching the June 30 deadline as current WAC foe Boise State did.

Fresno State director of athletics Thomas Boeh, however, said that because both schools announced the switch simultaneously, they would have to only split the $5 million payment. Benson and the WAC,

however, were seeking $10 million total in the lawsuit.

Boise State accepted its invitation to become a MWC member on June 11, 19 days prior to the deadline. Therefore, the Broncos were free to leave following this season and become the tenth team in the MWC. The WAC bylaws state that if a team wishes to leave the conference after the imposed deadline, it must stay for an additional two seasons, which would have caused Fresno State and Nevada to sit put until the 2012-13 season.

But what originally looked like yet another sticky legal situation for Fresno State athletics turned into a position with positives for all parties involved.

Instead of both Fresno State and Nevada having to fork up $5 million apiece in a slim, 60-day time frame, the schools agreed to adhere to the WAC’s wishes to keep both schools for another season for the price of $900,000 from each school.

“I’m pleased that we’ve completed the negotiations, reached [an] agreement and now its time to move forward,” Fresno State president John D. Welty said. “I’m glad that we got everything resolved at this point.”

The schools agreed to pay

the WAC over five separate installments, each totaling $180,000. The first payment will occur on Aug. 1, 2011. The remaining four payments will also be due on Aug. 1 for the next four years, ending in 2015 when Fresno State is preparing to enter its fourth season as a member of its new conference.

The MWC conference also stated that it would waive the entrance fee for both schools, saving each about a reported $1 million.

“Normally when there is a change in conference, there is an entrance fee in addition to an exit fee,” Welty said. “In this case, we’re paying an exit fee; it’s a modest exit fee in terms of what would normally occur. There would be no entry fee.”

Whatever revenue Fresno State and Nevada incur during the 2011-12-football season, it will have to forfeit it to the WAC. However, both Boeh and Welty said that by entering the MWC, the university would generate more revenue than it would in the WAC. “We will realize a dramatic increase in revenue from the Mountain West,” Welty said.

“So, essentially the first five years [we’ll] get just a little bit less than we normally have.

Associated Press

According to Thomas Boeh, director of athletics at Fresno State, the university will generate more revenue in the MWC than in the WAC.

But at the same time we’re going to realize a very significant increase by entering the Mountain West.”

While many students are concer ned with the move to a new conference, Welty expressed that jumping from the WAC to the MWC will benefit students academically as well.

“The move to the Mountain

West will be very positive, not only for the athletic program but [for] the entire university,” Welty said. “Certainly the universities [Fresno State] will be associated with are recognized for their academic programs.”

“I think there’s the opportunity to build academic cooperation and other programs as we move forward.”

PAGE 4

THE COLLEGIAN • ATHLETICS FUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, TONY PETERSEN • COLLEGIAN@CSUFRESNO.EDU

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2010

‘Dogs athletics spending on par with rest of nation

By Tara Albert The Collegian It’s no secret that budget problems have plagued the California State University system, impacting all areas of the universities throughout the state. So how does Fresno State’s athletics department fair, and how does the university spend its money?

Distributing funds According to the Fresno State’s budget book, the general fund is the main source for financing university operations. More than 90 percent of the money in the general fund comes from state allocations by the CSU Chancellor’s Office and university fees.

The cabinet first distributes funds to finance university priorities, such as deferred maintenance projects and technology funding, Clinton Moffitt, the associate vice president for financial services, said.

“Basically they try to align them against the university’s strategic plan,” he said.

Funds are then distributed in two levels. In the first level, President John D. Welty distributes funds to William Covino, provost and vice president of academic affairs, and the vice presidents and directors of designated major program areas. Those leaders then provide the second level of allocations to their departments, divvying up the funds to de par tment heads and deans.

In 1993, a committee comprised of deans and faculty was formed to annually decide the percentages of funds allocated to major program areas, according to Fresno State’s budget book. Student-faculty ratio and program expenses influenced the levels of allocated funds for areas including instruction and academic support, athletics and the university priorities fund.

For the 2006-07 and 200708 budget years, the amount of funds for athletics was 1.79 percent and 1.85 percent, respectively. Instruction and academic support were at 70.17 percent and 69.52 percent.

Moffitt said small adjustments between the budget areas each year were normal.

“They’re just little fluctuations that happen,” he said.

But in early 2008, the committee was disbanded and Welty established fixed alloca-

tion percentages for the major program areas. The athletics allocation was set at 1.86 percent and instruction and academic support was set at 69.89 percent in 2008. The levels were established to keep allocations consistent, Moffitt said.

“It’s not going to move,” he said.

However, of the money distributed from the general fund, which is mostly composed of funds from state appropriations and student fees, the percentages of actual expenditures for academic af fairs were substantially lower than those created for state allocations.

In terms of actual expenditures in 2008-2009, about 43 percent of the general fund budget was spent on academic affairs. Moffitt said expenses for academic affairs were a smaller portion of the budget, because the program area carried money forward into the next year, not because it received fewer allocated funds. In 2008-2009, academic affairs carried forward about $10,500,000 to the next budget year.

A d d i t i o n a l ly, c e n t r a l ly monitored funds made up about 32 percent of the actual expenditures in 2008-2009.

Those funds are used to support the university as a whole, rather than individual departments. Expenditures include benefits, risk management, utilities and state university grants. Student affairs made up about 4.7 percent of the budget and 1.95 percent was spent on athletics.

Athletics revenue For this school year’s budget, the athletics department has a budget of $24.2 million, Moffitt said. Student fees fund about 5.23 percent of the total athletics department’s budget, he said.

Associate Athletics Director Martina Buckley is responsible for creating the athletics department’s budget.

She said student fees and state appropriations allocated by the university make up about 21 percent, or about $5 million, of the athletics department 2010-2011 budget.

During the 2007-2008 school year, student fees alone made up about 1 percent of the Athletics Department’s revenue, according to a college athletics finance database created by the National Collegiate

Athletic Association. But in 2008-2009, student fees support jumped up to about 5.5 percent.

The increase of student fee support of the athletics budget is the result of Welty’s decision in 2008 to override students’ opposition against a general fee referendum that increased student fees from $7 to $50 per semester for athletics. Students voted 777-412 against the increase in the general fee referendum.

But Welty modified the fee increase to $32, based on a recommendation from an advisory committee, Moffitt said.

The funds were primarily used to create swimming and diving and lacrosse teams, he said.

“The votes and the fee committee are just advisory to the president,” Moffitt said. “They are not mandatory.”

The athletics department generates about 79 percent of its budget through various sources, such as ticket sales, Bulldog Shop merchandise sales, concessions and conference funds, Buckley said.

All of the funds the athletics department receives are placed into the same budget and divvyed up according to needs in the department, she said.

“They are spent on supporting the student athletes and the athletics department as a whole,” Buckley said.

Athletics expenses Salaries for coaches, administrators and staff in Fresno State’s athletics department are the largest expense category, according to the NCAA finance database. In 2008-2009, about 43 percent of the athletics department’s budget was spent on salaries, benefits and bonuses. Coaches’ salaries alone made up 26 percent of the department’s expenses.

“I think athletics is just like most business entities, in that it wants to spend the most money on its most valuable entities, which are people,” Buckley said.

Buckley said coaches’ salaries are determined by placing them within a range of salaries compared to those given at other schools in the Western Athletic Conference.

“We want to definitely have salaries that are in the range of the conference that we are in,” she said.

Trends in the nation and

the WAC According to a database created by the U.S. Department of Education Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, Fresno State coaches have some of the highest salaries in the WAC. The average salary for head and assistant coaches for men’s teams during the 2009-2010 school year were the second largest in the WAC, surpassed only by Boise State University.

The average salary for head and assistant coaches of Fresno State’s women’s teams were the largest in the WAC. Head coaches of Fresno State’s men’s teams made an average salary of $322,262, while head coaches of women’s teams ear ned $94,226.

Conversely, the lowest paid head coaches of men’s teams we re f ro m U n ive r s i t y o f Idaho with an average salary of $87,164. For head coaches of women’s teams, the lowest average salary was $49,173 at Louisiana Tech University.

But overall, Fresno State’s support of its athletics program is fairly consistent with that of other Football Bowl Subdivision athletics departments, and usually less money is spent on its athletics program than the median amount spent on programs nationwide.

According to a report about revenues and expenses of Division-I intercollegiate athletics programs between 20042009 by the NCAA, almost 35 percent of revenue for FBS athletics departments in 2008 came from tax dollars and other revenues directly allocated to the university. The median amount allocated by the university to athletics departments was $8 million.

Generally, the g reatest expenses in athletics departments nationwide were the same as those at Fresno State.

Scholarships, salaries and benefits accounted for about half of the budgets, according to the NCAA report.

University of Hawaii at Manoa, New Mexico State and San Jose State all used a greater portion of the athletics budgets to fund scholarships than Fresno State. An average of nearly 18 percent of the three schools’ budgets was spent on student aid in 2008.

In 2008-2009, athletic student aid made up about 13 percent of Fresno State’s athletics department budget, according to the NCAA finance database.

With tuition increases, that

portion has been growing.

This year, student aid makes up about 22 percent of the budget, Buckley said.

About 250 athletes received s c h o l a r s h i p s t h a t c o ve r between 10 and 100 percent of their tuition, room and board and books, Buckley said. Funds for student athlete aid come from the Bulldog Foundation, which raises money for student athlete scholarships, facilities and to support the athletics department, she said.

Impacts of budget struggles Coleman Barnes, the executive director of the Bulldog Foundation, said the foundation is donation-based, receiving funds from individuals and corporations in the Central Valley and beyond. He said the Bulldog Foundation has given athletes scholarships for 60 years, but tuition increases have put that streak in jeopardy.

“One of the great challenges we have now is that tuition keeps increasing,” he said. “When that happens, that means that the scholarship bill that the Bulldog Foundation pays back to the university goes up.”

Kenneth Hansen, a political science professor, has been outspoken about the budget problems that are plaguing California’s educational system. He said each department in the university is feeling the side effects of budget cuts.

“The athletics department is hurting as much as everybody else is at the moment,” Hansen said.

He said the source of funding problems is in Sacramento, because funds have been diverted from higher education to other state expenses, which has jacked up the bill for students.

“Increasingly, college is not for those who are qualified; it’s for those who are rich,” Hansen said.

But spending at Fresno State in areas that are not in line with the university’s priorities has not helped the situation, he said.

“It seems to me that there are too many obligations that the university took on when times were good and we could afford it that are not really part of the university mission,” Hansen said. “They’re probably luxuries that we can’t really afford.”

Brianna Campbell / The Collegian