UCLA Athletics Starts 'Women of Westwood' Campaign to Commemorate Title IX Anniversary
Fifty years after the monumental Title IX opened countless doors for women in sports, the Bruins are honoring its legacy.
UCLA Athletics announced the start of "Women of Westwood" on Monday, a campaign to further support women's sports on campus. The string of celebrations, financial plans and more will go into effect in 2022, 50 years after the legislation was passed.
Per a release from UCLA, these are the four main areas where new financial support will be added to the 13 women's teams on campus and the athletic department as a whole:
- The establishment of a new Women of Westwood endowment which in perpetuity will support operational expenses and enhancements across all 14 women's sports offered at UCLA. This endowment will supply the UCLA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics with a perpetual source of income that provides the resources needed to attract, develop, and retain the nation's most talented female student-athletes and coaches.
- A focus on funding female student-athlete scholarships through establishing additional scholarship endowments. Attracting talented female student-athletes to UCLA is critical in order to build and sustain a world class women's athletics program and nothing is more essential in attracting the best student-athletes than access to financial aid.
- An effort to endow women's coaching positions at UCLA. Coaches spend more time with UCLA student-athletes than any other member of the UCLA family, providing invaluable lessons in becoming champions in the classroom, in competition and in the community. Coaching endowments supplement sport-specific budgets and provide well-deserved, and much needed, support to the coaches leading our student-athletes.
- Broad-based support from all alumni, fans and friends of UCLA Athletics' in support of female student-athletes and the 14 women's programs with gifts of any amount given directly to a women's sport at UCLA. Gifts to one of UCLA's women's programs will provide sport-specific operational support at the discretion of the head coach.
The 1972-1973 academic year was the first one under Title IX, and the educational and athletic resources that are part of "Women of Westwood" will be introduced throughout the 2022-2023 year. Title IX prohibited sex-based discrimination in any school or other educational program that received federal funding, and athletic departments began providing scholarships to women athletes not long after.
The first woman to ever earn a four-year athletic scholarship was Ann Meyers Drysdale, who played for UCLA women's basketball and also competed for the volleyball and track teams in the mid-1970s. Meyers Drysdale is part of the group leading the charge for the "Women of Westwood," as is former UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field.
"As someone who has worked with hundreds of incredible women over my 37-year career at UCLA, I couldn't be prouder to support Women of Westwood," Kondos Field said in a statement. "This celebration is a chance to commemorate the wonderful successes of our women's athletic programs, while the fundraising initiative is an opportunity to build upon those successes from the last 50 years and allow our female student-athletes to represent UCLA as difference-makers in our community for years to come."
The women's teams at UCLA have contributed 56 national championships, 108 conference titles, over 1,000 All-Americans and hundreds of Olympians to the all-around storied athletic tradition in Westwood.
Fundraising for the event kicks off June 23, 50 years to the day after Title IX was enacted.
"Women of Westwood further demonstrates UCLA's commitment to supporting and empowering female student-athletes to achieve their goals," said athletic director Martin Jarmond. "From our legendary alumni to our current student-athletes; when women are supported, everyone benefits."
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube
Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA news stories: UCLA News on Sports Illustrated