and make her REPAY all the money spent on her dumb cow azz up to now too!!!
Posted on 05/14/2007 5:26:49 PM PDT by Former Fetus
Cassandra Harding waited nervously, dreading the moment her athlete's body would betray her.
Everyone would know her secret, including her track coaches at the University of Memphis - where she was on a full athletic scholarship.
"I didn't want to talk to anyone about it. I thought, what am I going to do now?" she said. "I didn't want to lose my scholarship."
But she did. And that's exactly what her coaches warned would happen.
Harding said she and other members of the Memphis women's track team were required to sign a document acknowledging they could lose their scholarships if they became pregnant.
The Memphis athletic department refused to discuss scholarship rules.
"The University of Memphis does not believe that it has violated any federal laws in the matter of Cassandra Harding," the school said in a statement.
Harding spoke first to ESPN, which was to include her comments in an Outside the Lines report set for broadcast today. Seven Clemson student-athletes told ESPN they had abortions in recent years, due in part to their fear of losing scholarships.
NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson declined comment on the Memphis case, but he acknowledged yesterday that there are no national guidelines about pregnancy. Christianson said decisions on financial aid and scholarships are made by individual schools.
Christianson added that the NCAA's national office allows pregnant athletes to apply for an extra year of eligibility, which would not count as a redshirt year. That gives some women an opportunity to stay in school for six years while competing for four.
Harding and teammate Gail Lee said Memphis coaches made it clear pregnancy can end an athletic career. Harding, who has rejoined the team since giving birth to a daughter, said the document listed other causes for which scholarships could be lost - including drug or alcohol abuse, or assaulting a coach.
"The track coaches hand that out to you. They like read it over and then tell you to sign it," said Harding, a jumper. "Well, I wasn't really thinking anything about it because I wasn't going to get pregnant."
But she did toward the end of her sophomore year in October 2004, and gave birth to Assiah in July 2005. Harding said she considered having an abortion to avoid losing her scholarship, but decided against it.
"I shouldn't have been put in that position," she said. "I'm so happy I have my baby."
When a new school year began, Memphis declined to renew her scholarship. So Harding borrowed the money to stay in school for her junior year, and worked part-time jobs - as a waitress, and as a package handler at the FedEx terminal in Memphis - while rejoining the track team as a walk-on.
Harding said she went to school during the day, worked at night, went back to class in the morning and practiced with the team when required. Her boyfriend took care of the baby when she was in school or at work.
The university lists her as being red-shirted for the 2005 outdoor season and as having missed the 2006 indoor season.
Now a senior, she has a partial athletic scholarship that pays for tuition and books. She had to sign the document again when she got the partial scholarship.
Her boyfriend is now in the Army, so Assiah is living with Cassandra's mother, Maple Harding, in Killeen, Texas. Cassandra Harding expects to graduate in December with a degree in criminal justice.
Lee, a thrower and one of Memphis's top athletes, said she signed a similar document in August 2005.
"There are guys on our team that have babies. Why wouldn't they have to follow the same rule?" said Lee, who won the shot put and finished second in the hammer throw at the Conference USA outdoor championships this weekend in Houston.
Track coach Kevin Robinson declined to discuss the case.
"Look, we're here to compete, not to become a spectacle," Robinson said Friday. "I'm certainly not in a position to comment for the school. We certainly don't want to be represented in a poor light."
Scholarships come up for renewal yearly, and colleges can decline to renew for an athlete unable to perform for medical reasons unrelated to athletics, said Barbara Osborne, a lawyer and assistant professor of sports law research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"That is an entirely legal thing and within NCAA rules," Osborne said.
But many schools continue scholarships for students temporarily sidelined by accidents, illness or other medical conditions, Osborne said, and some are developing programs to assist pregnant athletes to help them stay in college.
"Refusing to renew scholarships solely because of pregnancy smacks of moralizing," Osborne said, "and to actually have a policy like that and put it in writing seems very 1940s and '50s."
That said, I can understand why a track coach would do his/her utmost to discourage pregnancies among the female athletes. Can someone have a baby and a year later run competitively?
“Can someone have a baby and a year later run competitively?”
I should really resist the temptation to opine on athetics, as I[m the kind of person who can sit inside and smoke cigaretts all day, but I would think that a year after prenancy one certainly could compete. Athletes come back from worse than preganancy all the time.
Except Rothlisberger, I don’t think he is coming back.
Of course they can but ................
members of the Memphis women's track team were required to sign a document acknowledging they could lose their scholarships if they became pregnant.
They know the cost................
Really, the guys are having babies? For a college gal, I think she would have phrased that differently and applied some critically thinking skills
Funny, when a women wants to abort a child, the men are only sperm donors :)
Not only is this rule a Double Standard put it also promotes abortion.
I would agree with that position if the male athletes signed an agreement that stated if they got a girl pregnant they would forfeit their scholarship
Not only is this rule a Double Standard put it also promotes abortion.
If males signed this agreement it might promote homosexuality !
Only a scholarships male athletes can get a female athlete Pregnant-—good logic?
Refusing to recognize that moral issues have practical consequences smacks of stupidity.
I'd say a baby is more important than running track. Do these gals and their lawyers think they should jeopardize the baby and try to run anyway? Or maybe that the team shouldn't cut them even if they don't run as well when "running for two"?
Reality is: Don't fool around with boys if you want to run track. Or, get married, have a baby, and have a life. These choices are not in the least onerous—they're both good, in fact. They just can't be enjoyed simultaneously. Accept this, get off those drugs that make you think that way, and be happy.
Really, the guys are having babies? For a college gal, I think she would have phrased that differently and applied some critically thinking skills
Of course if these guys are really having babies they’d never have to work another day in their lives!
You are kidding-right? Its not about having the baby, it about not being able to compete.
I understand that it would be tough for an woman eight months pregnant to play point guard on a collegiate basketball team. However, if the no pregnancy rule is based on morals then it should cover male athletes as well.
She put herself in that position!
Rules are rules....
This isn't about abortion...
.this is about flaunting the rules and not taking responsibilty.
You are given a scholarship to compete, if you can’t you lose the scholarship, makes sense to me.
Do you really think it’s fair to hold them accountable to their agreement when they accepted the scholarship? Next you’ll say they are accountable for their own actions!
For the woman, pregnancy changes her body and she can no longer compete athletically.
For the man... no changes to his body, can still compete.
I don’t understand your question. It seems quite obvious.
“I wonder why it is that these universities will pull the scholarship of a female athletes that get pregnant but do not yank the scholarships of male athletes who get women pregnant?”
Not being able to compete in the sport you got your scholarship in is the same thing as flunking out of your major on an academic scholarship.
Should his scholarship be yanked?
The school stands no chance in court.
Gosh. Did I miss a Rothlisberger pregnancy??.......j/k
and make her REPAY all the money spent on her dumb cow azz up to now too!!!
The scholarship is given by the University so that it can have star athletes. If these female athletes who have signed the contract are unable to perform, they should be removed from the teams and lose their scholarships.
To complain after the fact shows that these women lack critical thinking skills. And I doubt the benefit of a college education would be of assistance to them.
This isn’t about feminism. It is simply about fulfilling contract obligations.
I absolutely believe that avoiding pregnancy is more the responsibility of the woman. We are the ones who live pregnant for around nine months. I have always felt disdain for women who tried to secure their relationship by pregnancy. I also believe that the man should have equal say in whether a woman gets an abortion or not. Men have feelings and attachments to their children, too. You may have guessed I’m not too popular with my Lib friends when it comes to talking on this subject.
I see no problem here at all.
She had a track scholarship. She got prego.
Done. Finito!
What’s all the discussion about? Yeah, she loses her scholarship. End of story.
If she kept her legs closed she’d still have her scholarship.
Nor do I perceive a moralistic standard.
Unless you consider that the terms of a sport based scholarship seems to require female athletes practice either celibacy or extremely reliable birth controll methods, in order to comply with the physical requirements needed to retain their scholarships.
Neither of which BTW, are necessarily based on morality.
It seems to me, though no apparent in the article, the "pregnancy rule" is not a morals based rule, but a performance based rule, you get a scholarship to complete in sports to generate revenue for the college. If you don't complete, you don't get a free ride
Males though a huge Darwinian lapse in PC correctness do not bare child so they are exempt from having to worry about gender equality
Boo frickin hoo. I’ve about had it with the darn teachers getting preggers in the middle of the year and taking their maternity leave and then walzing back for the last month of school jerking the kids’ affections around. Like the school is run for their benefits and not my kids’.
The university has excellent lawyers, they will win.
Should his scholarship be yanked?
Was the pregnancy an accident?
I’ve about had it with the darn teachers getting preggers in the middle of the year
__________________________________________________
There’s plenty of couples who can’t just schedule a pregnancy - they take it when they can get and are grateful.
Mrs VS
Post 30 well said.
DUH !!!
Wow, its a miracle. Guys having babies.
Perhaps it is because the guys can still compete and play. Shoot, they probably can run even faster trying to get away from the shotgun wedding.
Whereas an 8+ along mother not only can't run very fast, she is likely to have to be taken to the hospital if she tries.
Translation: I killed my unborn kid to become a gym teacher.
F
Truth! It is blinding when it occurs!
Frequently. Sometimes male athletes lose their scholarships because their sport is eliminated to accommodate women's sports under Title IX. No injury, pregnancy, or failure to adhere to a signed contract necessary.
The redshirt option was made available to her, and she ended up with a scholarship after she gave birth. Boo freakin' hoo.
My thoughts exactly.
After all...they are GIVING the athelete the money in return for a the athetic effort to make their teams perform at a higher level.
Did it happen on the court????? If so I’d like to see that instant replay.
LOL...that is the best quote of this article...and I missed it on the first read! (I guess I got too impatient to post...:)
Agreed...well said.
Go to>Video Humor>Other Ads> and search for Trojan...
If you have never seen it, it is pretty funny!
“Can someone have a baby and a year later run competitively?”
Certainly they can, it’s called the 15 yard sprint to change the whining kids diaper! Or the ever popular dual sink load of dish washing!
Not to be left out in the triathlon of motherly duties is the clothes folding/ironing while following the nonsense in America known as OPRAH. (numb-skull opera)
Sure, they can compete after childbirth!!!
Run you welfare supported mothers, run!!!!
Yes, she shouldn't have put herself into that position. She had a commitment to the school and she didn't fulfill it. I'm glad she didn't have an abortion, but she made her choice to become pregnant, and she has to live with the consequences.
Because the point is not that they had sex, the point is that they are not in a condition to participate in the sport. I’m surprised I had to explain that to anyone on FR.
susie
Bingo, we have a winner.
Firstly, Former Fetus, thanks for posting this article. Your point about these rules triggering abortions is well made and should be taken into consideration by potential student athletes as well as the appropriate rule making bodies.
Now for the rant.
< vent >
Yeah, OK, she’s going to lose her scholarship just as her contract laid out—a contract she freely signed. Fine, that’s reasonable.
Them’s the rules.
What I don’t get is why so many of you have to be a lot of self-righteous holier-than-thou SOB’s about it.
Liek, OMG, she had SEX, that HUSSY!
There’s really no need to impress the rest of the internet with your opinion of her virtuosity. I don’t see why it’s necessary. Maybe throwing off on people like her lets you elevate yourselves in your own minds. Regardless of the motive, this sort of asinine behavior is just what puts some people off of conservatism in the first place.
Please feel free to knock it off at any time.
Sheesh.
< /vent >
My grandfather had a basketball scholarship at Duke and blew out his knee in his freshman year. They pulled his scholarship.
Hmmm. Gotta watch that word choice. "Virtue" would indicate whether or not the young lady in question had sex. "Virtuosity" would be more appropriate to a discussion of how good she was at it. =]
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