Ivy League Official To Visit, Discuss Title IX

The executive director of the Ivy League will meet with Harvard women athletes and their coaches next month to discuss the University's compliance with Title IX, a 1972 law mandating "equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes."

The meeting comes after an internal Department of Athletics report obtained by The Crimson showed that the department spent more than twice as much money on men's teams than on women's. The report detailed discrepancies in the treatment of men's and women's sports in categories ranging from alumni donations to team photography.

Jeff Orleans, the Ivy League director, said yesterday that no specific date for the meeting has been set. The Department of Athletics has asked him to speak, Orleans said, but there is nothing unusual about the timing of the meeting.

"I've been meeting with coaches and students about Title IX at a lot of campuses," Orleans said. "It was the administration of the Athletic Department that asked me to speak about the issue."

Director of Athletics William J. Cleary '56 and Senior Associate Director of Athletics Patricia W. Henry did not return phone calls yesterday.

Orleans said his visit to Harvard is part of a larger attempt to maintain contact with Ivy League athletes and coaches. He said he has spoken at several other schools about Title IX.

Orleans refused to comment on Harvard's specific compliance with the regulation or on a recent Title IX-related suit by Brown University women's teams.

"Although I'm a lawyer and have been dealing with Title IX for 20 years, I'm not the best person in the world to go on a campus and tell people how to comply," Orleans said.

Women's lacrosse coach Carol Kleinfelder, an outspoken critic of the department's treatment of its women's teams, said yesterday that she is eagerly anticipating the opportunity to speak with Orleans.