After all, girls are free to run.
After a student athlete in New Jersey criticized the school’s policy prohibiting women from wearing it as a shirt during competitions or exercises, Rowan University is relaxing the sports bra to clarify its established verbal policy on clothing.
“Ron’s sports department already has a long-term verbal agreement, and all athletes must wear shirts, even during practice,” said the president of the university, Ali Hosmand, in a statement Friday. “The adoption of the oral policy is to maintain certain standards throughout the male and female projects.”
Houshmand said that recent interpretations of the university’s new employee’s verbal policy led Gina Capone to write an article on The Odyssey Online on Thursday, where she slammed Rowan forbidding female athletes wearing sports shirts without shirts.
“If you wear a sports bra, then you have to ask for it, right?” Capone wrote. “Well, according to the football players at Rowan University, this is true. I will let you know the real reason why women wear sports bras, not to show off our hard-won abdominal muscles. Women, whether or not there are six pieces, They all wear sports bras, because frankly, the outside is very hot.”
Capone said that she and her teammates are wearing sports bras because their training is “demanding, challenging and energetic” – and not at all to show their bodies to male counterparts.
“In 15 Women’s Cross Country athletes at Rowan University, everyone thought they should be allowed to exercise bras during training,” Capone wrote. “Even those girls who don’t participate in shirtless sports still believe that other members of the team should be allowed to wear anything they are confident in.”
University spokesperson Joe Cardona told Cherry Hill Courier-Post that the ban on male and female athletes practicing and participating in the competition stems from “trying to teach us that all athletes have certain standards.”
But according to Houshmand’s statement, Rowan will now develop a written policy that allows female athletes to wear sports bras without wearing shirts during practice.
The statement goes on to say: “Rowan Athletics will continue to follow the NCAA uniform guidelines during the competition.” “In the new formal policy, sports bras without shirts as practice garments will be unrestricted. The University recognizes that although oral policies attempt to set standards, But it may be misunderstood and not suitable for the training practices of today’s various sports.”
Capone also accused Rowan’s sports department of preventing women’s cross-country teams from practicing on the college’s track, as this would allow players to “distract the attention of football players.”
“It’s not enough for women to wear sports bras anymore. Now they are no longer allowed to run on the track,” Capone wrote. “These girls are now being asked to run on the local high school runway on exercise days.”
At the same time, the university objected to Capone’s allegations in another statement, saying she had just missed it. According to the statement, the university policy only allows one team to use the practice facility at any given time.
“In the fall, during the football season, the use of the stadium for the designated practice time of the cross-country team is after the football team uses the facility,” the statement said. “Because I don’t want to arrange the exercises later in the day, the off-road coach has traditionally developed an alternative plan for the team, using the Glassboro High School track, which is just across the street from Rowan Stadium.”
Rowan’s cross-country team recently discovered that the Glassboro High School facility was accidentally locked, prompting the team to practice at the university’s football field while the team is still there.
At the same time, Capone said that policy change is “a step in the right direction,” but still disappointed that the track team must adjust around the football team’s practice schedule.
“The purpose of my article is not to make Rowan look bad,” Capone told Courier-Post. “I hope to reveal the fact that the track and field department is unfair… I hope this will raise awareness and give other women the courage to uphold their beliefs.”