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LET THEM PLAY.com SUPPORTING THE RETURN OF FOOTBALL TO SANTA CLARA |
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Santa Clara Football
The Case For Football: Declining Male Enrollment
One of the most dramatic changes in the absence of football at Santa Clara has been the decline in male enrollment at the campus.
Nationwide, undergraduate females began to outnumber male undergrads in 1979. This phenomenon has occurred every year since then with the gap steadily widening. In that light, the University may assert that the current female/male percentages are to be expected. However, Santa Clara was able to avoid this phenomenon when it had football. Only since football was dropped, did SCU see the current enrollment trends. It a well-known fact that many colleges and universities play football to enhance their male enrollment numbers (and also view it as a way to help with the diversification of the student body).
| Enrollment Year | Male % | Female % |
| 1979 | 51% | 49% |
| 1980 | 53% | 47% |
| 1981 | 52% | 48% |
| 1982 | 49% | 51% |
| 1983 | 51% | 49% |
| 1984 | 53% | 47% |
| 1985 | 51% | 49% |
| 1986 | 51% | 49% |
| 1987 | 51% | 49% |
| 1988 | 49% | 51% |
| 1989 | 52% | 48% |
| 1990 | 49% | 51% |
| 1991 | 51% | 49% |
| 1992 | 49% | 51% |
| After Football Is Dropped | ||
| 1993 | 45% | 55% |
| 1994 | 48% | 52% |
| 1995 | 47% | 53% |
| 1996 | 45% | 55% |
| 1997 | 45% | 55% |
| 1998 | 45% | 55% |
| 1999 | 44% | 56% |
| 2000 | 46% | 54% |
| 2001 | 45% | 55% |
| 2002 | 43% | 57% |
| 2003 | 41% | 59% |
| 2004 | 43% | 57% |
If it were not for the Engineering Department at Santa Clara, the percentages would be even more disproportionate. For example, the most recent undergraduate enrollment data at SCU shows the undergraduate engineering program with 435 males and 90 females. Relatively speaking the business school helps SCU with male enrollment, as the numbers are 630 males and 619 females enrolled. (Obviously, Title IX does not extend to proportionality in academic departments!)
Since Santa Clara has an average freshman class size of 1,050 the direct effects of a football program on male/female enrollment are dramatic. Assume, for example, that 20 football players were admitted each year. The new male percentages would be boosted by an additional 1% to 47.3%, with the females decreasing by the same amount to 52.7% (assuming no decrease in the number of females enrolling) - therefore giving some additional relief under the onerous Title IX proportionality standard.
If the class size was capped at 1,050, football adds another 2% for males (to 48.2%) and decreases the female percentage to 51.8%. This analysis does not take into account that more male students would be attracted to SCU as a viable educational alternative because football is one more factor in providing a traditional college experience to them. Nor does it take into account that the school could carry 100 players on the squad, just as it did when the program was cut.
Information on the declining male enrollment at Santa Clara can be found at the Santa Clara University Institutional Review section of the school's website at http:/www.scu.edu/ir. This data is in the public domain as part of government reporting requirements.
© 2008, Let Them Play Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization incorporated in the state of California. Not affiliated with Santa Clara University. Use of the words 'Santa Clara', 'Broncos', or other descriptions and accounts of Santa Clara Football are used solely within a fair use of same and is provided solely as a means of historical information and context to the public domain. All rights reserved.