LETTER FROM NORTH CAROLINA STATE SENATORS    Ladies and Gentlemen:    Last year, the Student Government of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC made a strong statement regarding true equal opportunity in athletics by the passage of Resolution 93, which called upon the Administration to establish a policy of not eliminating male athletic opportunities in order to reach or sustain compliance with Title IX.    In late September, my co-sponsor of Resolution 93, Senator Jonathan Ducote, and I presented this Resolution to the University Council on Athletics, which is the University Standing Committee consisting of students, faculty, staff, athletes, and alumni and is advisory directly to the Chancellor regarding athletic matters. The Council was very supportive of the principle behind the Resolution, but was concerned that a formal "policy" which could have the effect of hamstringing the University if circumstances change.  We and the Council worked on and agreed to a compromise, which was to have the sentiments of the Resolution expressed in a formal University objective (statement of principle) rather than an inflexible policy.  We believe that having a statement of principle issued by the Athletics Director, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees would have the effect of creating a strong guiding principle while allowing all options to remain open in the event of an exigent circumstance.    On October 3, the Chair of the Council on Athletics, who is also the Faculty Representative to the Chancellor on athletic matters, wrote a letter on behalf of the Council to Senator Ducote and myself, formalizing the Council's support of our compromise solution.  This letter is attached, and Chairman Ward has given his permission for it to be published.  In addition, the Student Wolfpack Club, the student division of the Wolfpack booster club, has issued a letter of support as well (but this letter is only available in hard copy at this point).    One of the major reasons that the University decision-makers have paid so much attention to the Resolution thus far is because of the large amount of publicity the University received when Student Government passed the Resolution.  We're asking for this development to be publicized as well as much as you would like, for two reasons. First, this compromise still has to be approved by the Athletic Director, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees, and it would make a significant statement if they could see the publicity on this Resolution continuing.  Secondly, we believe that other Universities could be more receptive to similar actions if they were to see that the Council on Athletics from a major University has given its support.    We thank you very much for your cooperation in helping keep this Resolution in the headlines at this time when the Chancellor and Trustees are beginning to look seriously at this.  We will be sure to keep you advised on further steps that with respect to true equal opportunity in athletics at N.C. State University.    Thank You,  Sen. Chuck Jones (Seniors - Humanities and Social Sciences)  Sen. Jonathan Ducote (At Large - Natural Resources)    LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL ON ATHLETICS AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE    Dear Senator Ducote and Senator Jones,    On behalf of the Council on Athletics, thank you for attending our recent meeting. The Council wishes to commend you and your colleagues in Student Government for your interest and efforts in promoting gender equity.  In particular, we are impressed with the resolution passed by Student Government entitled Commitment to True Equal Opportunity in Athletics Act. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. There is no questioning the fact that compliance with Title IX (gender equity) is a significant concern within the higher education community and it can be especially problematic for intercollegiate athletics. It is for this reason that the Council has been monitoring athletic compliance with gender equity for several of years. NC State is fortunate that the goal of your resolution is, in fact, reflected in the management philosophy of our current university and athletic administrations. While there are facilities issues that can be categorized as work in progress, over the past few years athletics has been aggressively formulating and implementing plans to add competition opportunities for women, in order to keep pace with growing proportion of female undergraduates.     With respect to the Council's endorsement of the resolution, we do support its overarching spirit and goal (adding opportunities as opposed to eliminating them), however, we are concerned with using the word "policy".. Policy has an inflexible implication that could hinder administrators who may have to make difficult, but necessary decisions. Currently, such decisions do not appear to be necessary, but we cannot assume that future financial or competition-related circumstances could not necessitate such decisions. Consequently, while we do support the resolution's intent, we believe it should be articulated as an administrative objective rather than a policy.    I hope that I clearly articulated the Council's viewpoint and that you see it as both constructive and supportive. We look forward to working together with you on this and other issues impacting intercollegiate athletics.     Sincerely  Donn R. Ward, Chair  Council on Athletics