Iowa State athletic officials say the university is very close to being in total compliance with gender equity laws, even though a recent USA Today survey reported the university is “failing” because it has not achieved complete equity.

The Nov. 7 issue of the USA Today surveyed the gender equity compliance of all Division 1-A schools. Only eight of the schools are in compliance with the gender equity requirements, which maintain that the percentage of women athletes and athletic scholarships given must be equal to the percentage of women students.

Forty-three percent of ISU students are women, and 35.6 percent of the athletes are women, and 41 percent of the athletic scholarships are given to women. Eleven sports are female and nine sports are male, according to Steve McDonnell, manager of the athletic academic services.

Elaine Hieber, associate director of athletics, said the survey gave the wrong impression of how most schools are doing in their attempt to achieve gender equity.

“I think the test they used is just one of the prongs. It just gives a quick gloss of the situation,” Hieber said. “All of the universities are in different stages. Those eight schools have no gender discrepancy whatsoever, but other schools are in the process of complying with total equity. It made the issue black and white, when it’s really gray.”

ISU is “very, very close to being in total compliance,” Hieber said. “ISU is probably more progressive and closer to compliance” than many of the other universities.

Hieber said in other universities there might be a “them against us mind-set,” but at ISU, everyone is working to achieve gender equity. “It’s a very cooperative effort,” she said. “Everyone is working for a good experience for student athletes, not just football and men’s basketball, but women’s swimming and men’s baseball, right across the board.”

However, Hieber said gender equity has not always been so accepted at ISU.

“I would say early on, yes there was a battle when Title IX was first adopted in 1975. Until 1985, it was very, very difficult to achieve any type of equitable opportunity,” Hieber said.

“It would not be an accurate statement to say that everybody at ISU embraced gender equity with open arms. At times there have been some frustration and reluctance, and some hesitation,” she said.

“In the last five years we started to make some more strides,” she said.

Hieber said the biggest advancement of gender equity was full out-of-state scholarships for women.

Hieber said gender equity at ISU is now almost complete. “It’s just fine-tuning at this point. Most things are in place,” she said.

The athletic department still needs to increase recruiting budgets for women athletes, Hieber said.

McDonnell said ISU still “has a ways to go” to achieve gender equity. “We are committed to doing things to make improvements along those lines,” McDonnell said.