To the editor:

In light of the recent Journal- World editorial discussing the fate of Coach Washington, I want to challenge the Journal-World to take on an important issue that seems to be lost almost entirely in this discussion, except for one recent and informative letter from a reader. I am extremely disappointed in the Journal-World for not taking the opportunity to address the deeper issues affecting KU women’s basketball.

Bob Frederick, the former KU athletic director, acknowledged in a Feb. 27, 2000, Lawrence Journal-World article that although KU has made progress toward complying with Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments (which mandates equality in college academics and athletics), KU still was not fully compliant. It has been 30 years and KU is still not complying fully with federal law. Mr. Bohl knows this and, I hope, is going to do something no other athletic director since 1972 has ever done. I applaud him for his recent public statements supporting Coach Washington. I hope he will take the next step.

KU’s lack of full compliance with Title IX has hurt women’s basketball at the Kansas University (the same argument cannot be made about football). The U.S. Department of Education has all the current data on this subject if you and your readers are interested in looking at the facts. The Chronicle of Higher Education issues reports on Title IX compliance in a very readable and understandable way. I submit that it is the Journal-World’s responsibility to help inform its readers. Please don’t take the easy way out by avoiding this issue. Dig deeper into the conditions that are challenging women’s basketball and inform your readers. Coach Washington has a better overall record than most NCAA coaches male or female and she has achieved it despite KU’s non-compliance with federal law.

Christine M. Robinson,

Lawrence