Western Illinois Joining the Ohio Valley Conference

[jackjd]

jmgg: A quick search revealed several sources which confirm what you wrote about the female/male ratios at the two universities:
One soource, www.collegesimply.com, shows the following: USD female 64%, male 36%. SDSU female 56%, male 44%.

Our universities have to be in compliance with Title IX and that's part of the analysis when considering what sports can be offered. I was just taking a simplistic point of view: Vermillion weather works well for a spring baseball season. Vermillion's location within the Summit League footprint is also conducive to some easy bus rides to and from Vermillion for many of the conference members.

I suppose we just have to get accustomed to teams coming and going in and out of the Summit League and MVFC as well as most other DI conferences. The NCAA rules may have to be adjusted as changes in conferences become more common. Perhaps the Summit and the MVFC may turn out to be more stable than most other conferences.

[marco]

USD seems more interested in expanding the swim team and growing sports like track and other women sports they have

[Yote 53]

If we're talking Title 9, why is USD so discriminatory against men? 64-36 is crazy put of balance. Maybe their needs to be some programs or outreach to increase the male enrollment. I'm sure if the numbers were the opposite there would be people screaming that the administration "has to do something".

[kiyoat]

May 24, 2023 6:46:22 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

If we're talking Title 9, why is USD so discriminatory against men? 64-36 is crazy put of balance. Maybe their needs to be some programs or outreach to increase the male enrollment. I'm sure if the numbers were the opposite there would be people screaming that the administration "has to do something".

It's a nationwide (and worldwide) trend.  USD isn't the only school with that ratio.  In THIS in-depth article from 2021 from The Atlantic, they said that:

American colleges and universities now enroll roughly six women for every four men. This is the largest female-male gender gap in the history of higher education, and it’s getting wider. Last year, U.S. colleges enrolled 1.5 million fewer students than five years ago, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. Men accounted for more than 70 percent of the decline.

Also this:

The college gender gap is happening not just in the U.S. but in a range of upper- and middle-income countries, including France, Slovenia, Mexico, and Brazil. “In almost every rich country, women earn the majority of bachelor’s degrees,” Claudia Goldin, a historian and economics professor at Harvard University, told me. As a general rule, almost every country that gives men and women equal access to education discovers, within a few decades, that women are doing better.

There are a lot of different theories about the "why", some of which are discussed in that linked article.  But there isn't a definitive answer.  If I had to guess why USD seems more affected than other Summit schools (or at least vs SDSU), it would be the types of degrees we offer.  Engineering, for example, is one of the last truly male-dominated degrees (although that is changing, too).

So if you want the University to do something to change the ratio quickly,... start an Engineering program?

[marco]

I don't see that having more women is a problem . Enrollment went up last year hard to even find a place to rent in vermillion. many school are losing students

[kiyoat]

I don't mean to make light of it; It's a problem. Not just for our athletic programs, either. Over time, having less men with degrees will have negative consequences in all kinds of ways. Probably should be some kind of intervention, outreach, or even a "thumb on the scale" admission policy (Affirmative Action for men?). I just wanted to point out that it is not just a USD trend. Will probably need a larger-scale solution.

[Yote 53]

Title 9 is outdated. Follow along with me. As the ratio of female to male gets more out of whack the answer to stay in compliant of Title 9 is to restrict more men's sports in order to keep in ratio? That makes no sense.

We (colleges everywhere) should be increasing men's sports opportunities in order to incentivize and provide more opportunities for men in order to increase the number of males on campuses and bring that ratio more in line with the general population.

[soofooyote]

The problem with all of the theories posted here is that you assume men need to go to college. They don't, and many have realized it. They are now going to trade schools and vocational colleges to learn skills that translate into real world jobs and earnings potential. Women are still more focused in the traditional careers which require degrees to pursue, thus the ratio balance. SDSU isn't impacted as much because their students are in more male dominated fields like engineering and agriculture. Even their ratio is going more to the female side as this generational change continues to evolve.

[jackjd]

May 24, 2023 8:06:40 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

...So if you want the University to do something to change the ratio quickly,... start an Engineering program?

USD awarded engineering degrees...I think the engineering programs were disbanded in the late 1950s but I'm not positive of the date. I had an uncle who studied engineering at USD.

[Yote 53]

Back from the thread drift. USD should restart the men's baseball program and run it bare bones and underfunded. Who cares if we win, it's just important we take the field so the conference and the rest of the athletic departments have some conference stability.

[elcoyote]

May 24, 2023 9:34:01 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Back from the thread drift. USD should restart the men's baseball program and run it bare bones and underfunded. Who cares if we win, it's just important we take the field so the conference and the rest of the athletic departments have some conference stability.

No, just no. I'm a baseball alum and it would really upset me if it was run this way. Rather not have it at all.

[yote18]

May 24, 2023 9:34:01 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Back from the thread drift. USD should restart the men's baseball program and run it bare bones and underfunded. Who cares if we win, it's just important we take the field so the conference and the rest of the athletic departments have some conference stability.

We already fully fund a football team with this mentality. If we were to start a baseball team, or any new sport, we might as well fund it to win and give us something to brag about.

[jmgg]

May 24, 2023 13:19:22 GMT -6 yote18 said:

May 24, 2023 9:34:01 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Back from the thread drift. USD should restart the men's baseball program and run it bare bones and underfunded. Who cares if we win, it's just important we take the field so the conference and the rest of the athletic departments have some conference stability.

We already fully fund a football team with this mentality. If we were to start a baseball team, or any new sport, we might as well fund it to win and give us something to brag about.

I transferred to USD from an NAIA school where I played both football and baseball.  At the school I came from, nearly the whole baseball team was made up of basketball and football players ALL having scholarships from those sports.  We played baseball too because we loved the game.  Hell, there was only 1 person on the team with a baseball scholarship.  At USD during my 2nd year here, I played baseball during the fall ball season (couldn't devote the time to the spring due to studies being too important) and there were 5 or 6 players even here that ALSO played football/basketball.  Don't you think, with allowances from the other sport's coaches, you would get some of the same response from 2 sport players?  By LIMITING scholarships, I think a baseball team could be started.  I'm sure the university could afford it as long as we stay within the Title 9 borders and offer only a few scholarships.

[captaincoyote]

I’m not sure when you were at USD, but two sport athletes are extremely rare now. The only recent examples I can think of are Amber Hegge and some football players moonlighting on the track and field team. I can’t imagine any of our men’s coaching staffs agreeing to lend their athletes to the baseball team. The competition level is way too high on both sides of that arrangement, and, frankly, it would be embarrassing.

[kiyoat]

May 24, 2023 13:35:34 GMT -6 jmgg said:

May 24, 2023 13:19:22 GMT -6 yote18 said:

We already fully fund a football team with this mentality. If we were to start a baseball team, or any new sport, we might as well fund it to win and give us something to brag about.

I'm sure the university could afford it as long as we stay within the Title 9 borders and offer only a few scholarships.

Walk-ons count against Title IX too, because they are participants.  It's not just about scholarship numbers.  If we started baseball, we would also need to add a sponsored sport for women to offset the baseball players, regardless of how many of them are on scholarship.

I suppose having a bunch of walk-ons might help a little bit with the cost of fielding the team, but not much in the grand scheme of things.  There are tons of costs beyond scholarships.

If we could fill up the dome with football fans, that would go a long way in determining how many other non-revenue sports we could sponsor.  For now, I'd guess the budget wouldn't allow for a baseball team.

So buy some football tickets!