Nerve Endings Firing Away

The Aggies Womens basketball team crashed out of the NCAA tournament yesterday and failed to make the Final Four. They lost to the defending champions, Tennessee. But it was still one of Aggies triumphant moments by playing in the Elite Eight for the first time. Until they choked in the final seven minutes, they were leading old warhorse Tennessee by four points. The men had reached the Sweet Sixteen last year and lost in the second round this year but the women after starting off on a disastrous note came into their own and even won the Big 12 tournament. To better understand the success of this woman’s team, it is vital to understand the background of the program. Texas A&M is undoubtedly one of those rare conservative universities and that attitude can be seen on campus as well. The football team doesn’t have cheerleaders but male yell leaders that lead cheers for fans. A New York Times article last week [hat tip: Confused] gives a better picture of what the womens program had to go through to get here:

Even as women began to join the university’s Corps of Cadets in 1974, they met fierce and novel resistance when trying to enter some of its elite units. One student from the late 1970s, Melanie Zentgraf, said that a fetal pig had been tossed in the window of her dormitory room and that spirit signs draped outside the women’s dorm had been set on fire.

She filed a discrimination lawsuit against the university, and her case drew widespread attention. When she graduated in 1980, the A&M president refused to shake her hand.

1980! Can you believe that happened this recently? The women got their separate locker room only in 1977 and in 1973, “the 153 women representing Texas A&M in 10 sports had to share a $300 stipend from the campus bookstore.” Recently there was a ruckus on campus regarding a women’s counseling center that was planned for closure but after widespread protests, the decision was reversed. It turned out that the administration was unaware that the center was quite popular and being widely used by the women on campus. That said, things haven improved significantly since those days in the 70s and now the women’s athletic program is well funded ($2.8 million for basketball) and growing rapidly. Texas A&M even has a woman president now after Robert Gates stepped down. But then again, we don’t know how long will it take for attitudes to change. Take for example, this anecdote:

When a female dance team was introduced in recent years at basketball games, some women in the stands covered their eyes with their programs, said King, the deputy athletic director.

“They thought it was indecent to have those young girls with their midriffs showing,” King said. Then she laughed. “The men watched.”

Even the United States has its corner of India.