Family fights sex discrimination
Daughters’ sports careers may suffer
Photo by Mark Stewart
Cathy Aiken
The University is the proving
ground for many an athlete
each year, but for the Robert
Aiken family it is a different
kind of proving ground —
much of their competitive
spirit has been aimed at win
ning the fight against sex dis
crimination in athletics.
Robert and his wife Barbara
have four daughters who are
students at this University and
of those, two have been play
ing organized basketball for
seven years with relatively lit
tle trouble — until they came
to this University. Discrepan
cies in the University’s athletic
policy prompted Robert and
Barbara to file a formal com
plaint March 8 with the Uni
versity compliance officer
charging discrimination and
non-compliance with Title IX,
a federal regulation prohibit
ing sex discrimination in ath
letic and educational prog
rams.
The filing of the complaint is
only the latest step in what is
an eight-year involvement for
the Aiken family in equal
rights for women athletes —
but it seems to be leading to
rocky sports careers for Cathy
and Nancy Aiken.
Currently Cathy, who was
her team’s leading scorer, is
indefinitely suspended and her
twin sister Nancy has spent
what she feels to be an unfair
amount of time on the bench.
The women say they feel their
criticism of the women’s
sports program is at least par
tially to blame.
While no correlation
between the Aiken family’s ac
tivism and the regression of
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Page 12
the Aiken twin's careers can
be proved, the Aikens say
Elwin Heiny, the women's var
sity basketball coach, has
failed to deliver a discernable
reason for Cathy's suspension.
Although Heiny denies the
charge, he admits the Aikens
have a lot of support for their
cause of improving women's
athletics.
The Aikens’ official complaint
was prompted in part by the
University’s failure to pass its
first Title IX exam, according
to daughter Jane, who is in her
second year of law school. The
University is required to report
to the state on how much
progress has been made to
ward the equalization of athle
tic programs. But this year the
University was turned away by
the reviewing board and or
dered to report back in June of
this year with proof of substan
tial advances — proof which
was sadly lacking in the first
report.
Although bureaucratic
warblings suggest the men's
and women s athletic prog
rams are becoming equalized,
huge abysses remain un
bridged, according to the
Aikens. Jane points out that
female basketball players are
required to buy their own
shoes and socks, are refused
full or even partial scholar
ships, are asked to weather
three-day roadtrips in crowded
cars and are scheduled for
“twilight zone” playing times.
In fact, the University can’t
seem to scrape up the money
to buy reversable jerseys for
practices, says Cathy, thereby
causing confusion in differen
tiating between teams on the
court.
The Aiken family was not
happy with the University’s
athletic program when the
Title IX report was made and
wanted some immediate steps
taken, but the University re
quested — and received — an
extension. The University now
must answer charges of sex
discrimination before the June
deadline.
Robert Aiken recognized
early that his daughters might
face a different set of problems
than he did. The elder Aiken
attended the University on a
football scholarship some
years ago and, in the words of
law student Jane, is a “white,
male, middle-class Republi
can ex-jock who had all the
benefits of being a white male
in a white male’s society.”
Aiken shrewdly realized his
daughters weren't going to
pass for white males and,
wanting the same oppor
tunities for his children that he
had enjoyed, he bristled for his
thankless fight.
But the Aiken family didn’t
envision the stumbling blocks
they’ve encountered. “When
we first got started we didn’t
think it was revolutionary, we
just thought that people
hadn’t really thought about it
that much," says Jane.
Jane has a long background
in athletic equalization. She
has lobbied for her cause while
serving on the Incidental Fee
Committee and special com
mittees at the University. Her
sister Ann, also a law student
here, lobbied in the 1973 and
1975 sessions of the Oregon
Legislature and together they
established athletic programs
for a junior high school in their
hometown Salem.
The Aikens hope the com
plaint they have filed will ul
timately prompt quick revi
sion of the basketball prog
ram. Specifically, the com
plaint calls for an upgrading of
transportation and officiating,
quality, equalization of pay
ment for coaching and ad
ministrative personnel and
better equipment.
The Aikens have a definite
program in mind — one that is
similar to that undertaken re
cently at Portland State Uni
versity, where the men’s and
womens programs are integ
rated under one roof.
Part of the complaints the
Aikens have about the quality
of officiating at women’s bas
ketball games stem from an
incident between Cathy and
coach Heiny which resulted in
Cathy's suspension from the
team. After fouling out of her
best performance of the sea
son, 29 points, Cathy drew a
technical from the official for a
comment she made after the
foul.
“I walked back to the bench
and said ‘son of a bitch' under
my breath,” says Cathy. "It
was just a stupid comment
made in the heat of a tight
game.”
but Cathy was suspended
after the game and some con
troversy still surrounds the
circumstances of that suspen
sion. Cathy was ordered to
apologize to her team and the
official. She contends she did
so in the form of a letter. Heiny
contends she didn't apologize
to the official although he
cites “other reasons"— which
he wouldn't elaborate on — for
her suspension.
While Heiny agrees with
some parts of the Aikens'
complaint, he defends the of
ficiating. He points out that
the girls’ officials were all cer
tified and one was the presi
dent of the Oregon AAA coach
ing association.
The Aikens, however, con
tend that the situation was
handled in a manner different
from how it would have been
handled in a men’s game. Jane
points out that men aren’t or
dered to apologize when they
swear or commit a technical.
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