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Women in Coaching

Lock Haven Trustees Remain Silent on Former AD’s Emerita Status

Published May 23, 2013 | By ellenstaurowsky

 

In a packet of materials prepared for the May 17, 2013 meeting of the Lock Haven University Council of Trustees sits a letter.  It is addressed to Professor Sharon Taylor, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport Studies, and offers the news that a resolution was put forward to grant her emerita status in recognition of her service to the institution, service that spanned more than four decades.  Signed by President Michael Fiorentino, the letter itself anticipates a positive outcome to the consideration of the resolution by the Council of Trustees.  Awkwardly, the letter hangs in limbo, undelivered as of this writing.

            According to reporter Scott Johnson of The Express, the LHUP trustees conferred emeritus status on two of the three faculty members put forward, male professors who had been with the institution 16.5 and 29.5 years respectively.  Despite Taylor’s length of service, The Council did not move to vote on the resolution opting instead for silence. 

            The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recommends that each institution establish criteria for the conferment of emeritus status.  Generally, eligibility includes not only years of service but a demonstrable level of service with distinction. According to the Pennsylvania System of Higher Education Board of Governors policy regarding conferral of emeriti status, criteria include:

·         An exemplary record of service through demonstrated commitments of time, talent, and resources; and,

·         Documented leadership in advancing the mission of the State System of Higher Education in its service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

By those measures, the Council’s silence in Prof. Taylor’s case is worth visiting.

            A daughter of Lock Haven, Taylor received an undergraduate degree in health and physical education there before earning a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.  Starting her career in the role of a teacher-coach, she set a standard of excellence unsurpassed in Lock Haven athletics history.  During the years 1973-1995 the Lock Haven field hockey team compiled a record of 333-96-27 under her guidance with a perfect 21-0 record in her final season as head coach.  Six national championships (one AIAW and five NCAA), seven PSAC titles and seven more national championship or semi-final appearances in field hockey bear testament to a lifetime of work and a remarkable coaching legacy.   To add to those coaching achievements, Taylor led the 1979 women’s lacrosse team at Lock Haven to the first NCAA Division II national championship.  Coach of the year honors were bestowed on Taylor by the NCAA in 1993, 1994, and 1995 and the PSAC in 1989, 1992, 1994, and 1995.  

            Such a record of achievement by itself would have made a career.   But there was more work to be done at Lock Haven, where she was appointed the director of athletics in 1988 after serving in the role of interim athletic director the year previous.  A recognized leader at the national and international level, Taylor served on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Olympic Committee for 15 years.  A college athletics administrator with a high national profile, Taylor was elected president of the largest collegiate athletic conference in the country, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC); president of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA); president of the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW); vice president for Division III of the AIAW; and president of the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) from 2001-2007. 

            For her contributions as an athletic director, Taylor has been honored as the NACWAA National Administrator of the Year (1988); Josten’s Female Administrator of the Year by the ECAC (1997); the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport Pathfinder Award (1996) and the HERitage Award of the Pennsylvania State Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (1995). 

            Based on Learfield Sports Director’s Cup rankings, a program designed with the purpose of honoring athletic departments that have maintained a commitment to providing broad-based participation for both men and women, Taylor presided over an athletic program that realized considerable success in several sports.  Between 1995-1996 and 2011-2012, Lock Haven’s performance in the rankings fluctuated with a high being in the top 11% of programs in 2008-2009 to a more moderate position of being in the top 60% of programs in 1997-1998.  Across all of those years, Lock Haven was securely positioned within the top third of all NCAA Division II athletic programs in the country. 

In an irony that warrants noting, just days before the LHUP Council responded in silence to the resolution that would have conferred emerita status on Taylor, she was honored by the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport with the President’s Award, an award that recognizes persons who are “bridges that move us forward through leadership, vision and commitment”.  Among the previous recipients of that award are U.S. Senators Birch Bayh and Hilary Clinton; U.S. Olympians Donna DeVarona and Anita DeFrantz; the entire 2006 Team USA Softball; and organizations including the National Women’s Law Center and USA Today. 

With such a distinguished record, the question lingers as to why LHUP has thus far withheld emerita status from Taylor.  There is speculation that the Council’s lack of action on Taylor’s case was due to a series of lawsuits filed against Taylor and the university during her time as athletic director.

As a matter of policy, the conferral of emeriti status is typically not automatic.  PASSHE policy notes that “Such recognition is deemed to be an honor of the highest order and shall not be conferred as a matter of due course, but rather is reserved for those whose service is exemplary”. 

Given the Council’s lack of action thus far in this case, what would it mean in terms of precedent if the fact that an administrator had been named as a party in a lawsuit were to be denied emeritus status simply on that basis?  Whatever lawsuits filed did not implicate Taylor alone but the university administration as well.   Could an athletic director at nearly any institution be found who did not have to deal with the reality or the threat of lawsuits? Would that then mean that no administrator, faculty member, or member of the Council itself be eligible for emeritus consideration because a lawsuit was filed during their watch?  Could a lifetime of accomplishment for anyone working at LHUP be diminished after being named in a lawsuit? 

And how to situate this decision within the broader picture of decisions made relative to the leadership of the LHUP athletic department in recent months?  The University has exhibited a capacity to look past public perception to recognize the significant work histories of employees, as evidenced most recently in the hiring of former Penn State athletics administrator Mark Sherburne for the position of LHUP athletic director.  Sherburne was let go by Penn State  just a year ago for failing to comply with orders from University officials to relinquish documents that might shed light on the actions of Penn State administrators in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.  Why generous with Mr. Sherburne but not so with one of its most accomplished daughters who blazed a trail in athletics administration at a time when women leaders were scarce and still often unwelcome? 

In 2010, LHUP commissioned consultants external to the university to conduct a review of the athletic department.  In the report entitled Review of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Department of Athletics, an undercurrent of tensions regarding Title IX compliance emerges in recommendations and identified institutional weaknesses.  While information at the time of the review led consultants to conclude that the athletic department was in compliance with Title IX, they wrote

In the past several years, as Title IX requirements were more consistently met, the LHUP women’s teams have enjoyed increasing success. While this success has been applauded by most people, it has also been viewed incorrectly by individuals not knowledgeable about Title IX as the reason for some men’s teams not being successful in recent years (p. 7).

Recommendations for constituencies both inside and outside of the athletic department to be educated about Title IX’s requirements were made as were recommendations that the source of issues with underperforming men’s programs be pursued with a clear eyed understanding that Title IX blaming was not helpful to the inquiry. 

            In August of 2012, two of Taylor’s former players wrote an editorial expressing concern that the idea that highly successful women’s teams could be the centerpiece around which an athletic department’s reputation was built was fueling an effort to malign Taylor and remove her as athletic director.  They asked:

What happened to the days when we applauded players for the sacrifices they make to become the best? If the athletic director was a man and the men’s teams were winning championships, would we be hearing this kind of criticism?

In the absence of an explanation or statement from the Council of Trustees regarding the Taylor case, questions remain.            And the cloak of silence cannot obscure the uncomfortable possibility an actual violation of Title IX might have been committed if the motive for withholding emerita status was done in retaliation against an accomplished, strong woman who was simply doing her job. 

There are other sons and daughters, and citizens of Lock Haven watching this unfold, watching how this is being handled, asking whether they too, if they devoted their lives to the place they have come to call The Haven, may be greeted with a similar stone wall of silence.

Silence can mean many things.  Viewed in the most favorable light, LHUP trustees may simply have wished to consider how best to acknowledge Taylor for her accomplishments in an appropriate time and place.  They may have needed more time to consider the case further with the intent of awarding emerita status at a later point.  Silence allows for action to be made in the future. At the moment, however, the silence is deafening. 

Reprinted from the College Sport Business News at http://collegesportsbusinessnews.com/issue/may-2013/article/lock-haven-trustees-hold-key-to-former-ad-s-status

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The Real Women of Coaching: Season 2 (Episode 18) Katie Card

Published May 20, 2013 | By Dr. Giddings

This is the final episode featuring water polo coach, Katie Card.