Southeast Missouri State University will put more money into women's athletics under a gender equity plan approved Wednesday by the Board of Regents.

The first phase of the plan would move the athletics program within three years to a 60-40 (male-female) percentage split in coaching staff, operations budget (including gifts-in-kind), number of athletes and scholarships.

Southeast will spend nearly $193,000 over the next three years to reach the first-phase goal, officials disclosed.

The second phase of the plan calls for reaching a 50-50 ratio by 2001, which would be the school's 10th year in Division I athletics.

But Richard McDuffie, the school's athletics director, said the final goal could change -- depending on NCAA policies, what happens in the nation's courts, and whether there's student interest in adding more women's sports.

Currently, about 65 percent of the athletics budget for operations and scholarships goes to men's sports, compared with about 35 percent for women. About 70 percent of the school's coaches are men. Sixty-five percent of the university's athletes are men, school officials said. As to the student population at the university as a whole, 55 percent of undergraduate students are women.

University President Kala Stroup proclaimed that the school is the first institution in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) to address the gender equity issue. She said Southeast is "not going to hide this issue under the table or wait until we get sued."

McDuffie said after the meeting that moving to place men's and women's athletics on a more equal footing -- both in terms of the number of athletes and in funding -- is morally the right thing to do.

"We need to do what's right," he said. McDuffie, who has three daughters and a son, said he believes all parents would want their children to have an equal opportunity to participate in athletics at a college or university.

Regent Patricia Washington, who competed in athletics when she was a student at Southeast, praised the move toward gender equity. "I think it is a good plan."

McDuffie and other Southeast officials said it's important for the university to address gender equity rather than wait for the federal government to mandate changes.

Christina Frazier, a biology professor at Southeast, headed the 17-member committee that drew up the gender equity plan.

"Title IX complaints emanating from campuses throughout the nation have caused the Office of Civil Rights to review the athletics programs at several OVC schools, including Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee," Frazier said. Murray State's program has also been targeted by the Office of Civil Rights.

"One of the most effective ways to avoid such a review is to have in place an active, feasible plan to address gender equity," she said.

Frazier said achieving gender equity is "both the right thing to do and the prudent thing to do."

She said the university needs to address the issue rather than leave itself open to a possible lawsuit.

Athletics, she said, is an important part of education. "How can you justify supplying more of an educational resource to individuals of one gender when there are individuals of the other gender who are capable of and interested in using that resource?"

Frazier said that without athletics scholarships, some students couldn't afford to attend Southeast.

Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president, said the university's athletes have a graduation rate higher than that of the general student population. Forty-eight percent of the university's athletes graduate within six years compared to 34 percent for the general student body.

Dobbins told the board that in the past three or four years, the school has made "significant strides" toward gender equity.

The committee found the university was already doing a satisfactory job in terms of equipment and supplies, access to tutoring, locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, support services, adding and cutting teams, level of competition, special events, rules of behavior/discipline, publicity, medical and training services and facilities, and summer work opportunities.

Both Dobbins and McDuffie said Southeast should be able to implement its gender equity plan without harming its current athletic programs.

They said the plan would be funded with university dollars as well as with athletics revenue, such as ticket sales and booster club donations.

In fiscal year 1995, Southeast plans to spend nearly $98,000 of university funds and athletics revenue for additional women's scholarships, as well as increased funding for coaching staff and general operations for women's sports programs.

In fiscal year 1996, the gender equity budget will total more than $77,000. That doesn't include the increased cost of education, which would also be absorbed by the university, school officials said.

In fiscal year 1997, the university plans to spend $43,000 on female coaching staff promotions, but savings from changes in men's coaching positions is expected to save about $25,000. The result will be a net expense to the university of $18,000, plus the cost-of-education increase, officials said.