Kate Murphy

kmurphy@enquirer.com

The next time the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team plays a home game, it will be in a high school gym.

The team, which drew 4,000 spectators for its matchup against the University of Connecticut Huskies this year, will play at St. Ursula Academy, which has about 1,000 seats. Fans won't be cheering from behind the bench because there's only one set of bleachers.

The UC men's team will play its home games at Northern Kentucky University's BB&T Arena, which holds more than 9,000 people.

Both teams have to move next season while UC's Fifth Third Arena undergoes a major renovation. The vast differences in the venues men and women will play in have raised concerns following UC's announcement Monday that it had signed a contract with St. Ursula.

National experts and a local booster say the decision is both unfair and violates federal law on the equal treatment of male and female athletes. UC administrators say it's neither.

Coming off their most successful season in a decade, the Bearcat women will play all of their home games at the private Catholic high school in Walnut Hills. The women's volleyball team will also play in the school's gym.

"This is yet another indicator of the lack of respect for the women’s teams," said Tamaya Dennard, a donor to the UC women's basketball program. "That gym is not for a Division I athlete. They have no business playing there."

Five seniors, who've put in as many hours on the court and in the weight room as their male peers, will play their final game in this facility.

Dennard, a Cincinnati City Council candidate, said UC's decision speaks to the "deep disparity" in how the two teams are treated. She's in the stands at every home game and has been a strong advocate for the women's basketball team for years, donating her time and money to help advance the program.

"They work hard, they put their bodies on the line, and they are expected to perform on and off the basketball court," Dennard said. "There’s no reason they should not be afforded the same opportunity as the men."

Is this discrimination against women?

Cheryl Cooky, an associate professor at Purdue University, said how UC is treating its women's basketball team is against the law. She is an expert on Title IX, which ensures universities provide all student-athletes equitable access to resources including facilities, equipment, practice times and coaching. The federal law was passed in 1972 on the heels of incidents in which colleges were discriminating against women.

"The fact that this is even within the realm of possibility ... speaks to the value that we place on women’s sports in our culture," Cooky said. "Even in 2017 women are still second-class citizens in the world of collegiate athletics."

The NCAA guide for colleges and universities says the most significant issues in Title IX compliance for practice and competitive facilities are "the exclusivity of use and the comparative quality of the facilities."

She said if someone filed a federal Title IX complaint about the location of the UC women, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights would investigate.

"This is Title IX's origin story," Cooky said. "This type of treatment was what really motivated female athletes to make those kinds of complaints."

UC Athletic Director Mike Bohn said he was mindful of Title IX when making the decision, but looking at it that way would be misplaced. He said this move is what's best for the program and student-athletes.

"We believe we can create a competitive advantage in there based on the size and setup," Bohn said. "It's a facility that is close to campus and as least intrusive as possible."

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a civil rights lawyer and three-time Olympic gold medalist, said simply, Bohn is wrong.

“You don't have to have a law degree to see this isn't equal," said Hogshead-Makar, who's also the CEO of Champion Women, a national advocacy group for girls and women in sports. "If you ask the men would they switch, what would they say? That answers the basic fairness question.”

The athletic department can offset that inequality by giving women more in other areas, according to Hogshead-Makar. That could come in the form of additional media coverage, more game promotion and better travel accommodations.

Head women's basketball coach Jamelle Elliott said she wasn't part of the conversation in determining where her team would play. She said she trusted the UC administration would make the best choice.

"I was told this is what it's going to be," Elliott said. "The decision was out of my control."

When asked if she was disappointed with the decision, she said it's her job to prepare her team to compete, no matter where they play.

"We're going to take the approach that home is where the heart is," Elliott said. "We have to make that environment as UC-like as possible."

Bohn said the "significantly smaller venue" will still accommodate space for the UC band and cheerleaders, areas for post-game and courtside live media coverage, digital signage along the court and lights above the basket. Those amenities will provide a strong gameday environment, Bohn said, and even boost the energy.

UC says scheduling posed the biggest challenge

The athletic department said it explored numerous facilities in the area, but all the other choices have men's and women's programs that are already using the facility at the days and times UC prefers to play its games.

Maggie McKinley, UC executive senior associate director of athletics and senior women’s administrator, said that lack of flexibility would put the athletes at a significant disadvantage.

The UC men's games are set by television partners, which doesn't give the school a lot of flexibility. That, combined with scheduling NKU's men's and women's basketball programs, which are the top priority, took BB&T Arena out of the picture for the UC women.

"We would have been utilizing inconvenient practice and game times," McKinley said, "which could, in turn, have an effect on class scheduling and academics on campus."

St. Ursula's gym is on par or better than some of the local collegiate facilities, according to McKinley. She said St. Ursula and gave UC a priority in scheduling, the ability to brand the facility on game day and ample parking options.

Jill Cahill, a spokeswoman for St. Ursula Academy, said the facility is "not a typical high school gym" and is built to NCAA specifications.

"As an all-girls school, we recognize the importance of Title 9 and believe the facility will more than meet the high standards that these female athletes deserve as they play at the Division I college level," Cahill said in a statement.

The gym and convocation center, which opened in 2003, is less than two miles from UC's campus. The university is paying St. Ursula $1,650 per game and $60 per hour for practices, according to the contract. The volleyball team is guaranteed at least 10 games and the basketball team is guaranteed at least 15 games at the facility.

The contract also outlines details regarding access to locker rooms, training rooms and time on the court before games. Fans will also have free admission and parking for all volleyball and basketball games, as they did at Fifth Third Arena this season.

What message does this send to the program and the community?

Loretta Blaut, a third-year member of the track team, said it’s a little bit unfair that the women are playing in a different gym, especially one that’s not even at a college.

“I’m sure the girls are upset,” Blaut said. “It’s going to be a change, but I don’t think it’s going to hinder our performance.”

Blaut is on the executive board of the student-athlete advisory committee, which works as a liaison between the athletes and administration. She said she thinks this decision had to be made in order to the better the future, but it’s a shame that the teams won’t have the same home court next year.

Some players may be sad that they can’t play at a better arena, she said, but they carry the mindset of “I’m going to take this slight sacrifice,” knowing it’ll be better for the program in the years ahead.

The North Carolina State University women's basketball team endured a similar situation during the 2015-16 season when its home court, Reynolds Coliseum, closed for 16 months during a $35 million renovation. The Wolfpack women played most of their home games at Broughton High School's Holliday Gymnasium in Raleigh, which is one of the largest high school gyms in the state and seats more than 3,000 fans.

It's slightly different from the UC situation because no NC State men's teams currently play at Reynolds. The university didn't choose two new locations for its teams, putting one team in a collegiate facility and another in a high school like UC.

That decision sends a clear message to the team, the community and girls in Cincinnati or Ohio who are aspiring to be college athletes, according to Cooky.

"You can put in all the heart, passion and hard work," Cooky said. "And at the end of the day, you’re going to end up at a high school arena instead of where you should be, which is a college arena."

The attendance numbers are lower for the women than the men – 827 on average compared to 9,865 – and the donors' pockets aren't as deep.

However, the argument that the men’s team earns the right to a better facility because it brings in more revenue and sells more tickets is illegal under Title IX, according to Hogshead-Makar.

She said the university is never going to allow the women to develop their own following by putting the thumbprint of inequality between them and the men.

The UC athletic department spent four times as much per men's basketball player as women's basketball player in the 2015-16 school year – $138,338 compared to $33,942. It also spent more than triple on the men's team overall at $1.8 million vs. $0.5 million for the women's team, according to the U.S.Department of Education's Equity in Athletics database.

Hogshead-Makar said these inequalities are common at universities around the country, and many schools are not operating in compliance with Title IX. The message it sends goes far deeper than athletics, she said: It’s unrealistic to expect male athletes to treat women fairly when their own institution doesn’t do so.

“They are going to have to work with women in the workforce," Hogshead-Makar said. "They’re going to think they are fundamentally more important or more valuable and that what they’re doing is more important than what women are doing.”

The UC women's basketball team will not play the University of Connecticut at home next year. An earlier version of the story was incorrect. The Enquirer regrets the error.