Glory, glory to Old State! The Penn State athletic department has just made a sad, but informative statement about the importance of female student-athletes to this University.

This basketball season has been full of excitement for all fans. The men's team has just completed its second consecutive 20-win season and secured another post-season invitation from the NIT. Needless to say, Coach Parkhill has done a commendable job in turning the program around.

The Lady Lions have captured an unprecedented fifth Atlantic-10 title. In the process they have earned another trip back to the NCAAs. They have competed in all but one of the NCAA tournaments.

The Lady Lions will travel to Florida State on Wednesday night to play in the first round of the tournament, despite being the higher-seeded team and having earned the right to play at home. The simple reason is that it conflicted with the men's NIT game to be played here the same night.

Although it would seem logical that an NCAA game, and the road to a possible championship, would take precedent over an NIT game, it seems that is not the case. I can think of only two possible explanations.

The first is that the silver anniversary of women's athletics at this institution is a farce. All of the celebrations and talk is fine, but when it is time to demonstrate its support for its female student-athletes, Penn State failed.

Let the women play their games, as long as it doesn't interfere with "real" sports. Parkhill demonstrates this attitude by his statement, "I don't think there's any decision there . . . I don't see what the big deal is."

The only other possible explanation is money. Joe Paterno recently called Notre Dame a banking institution rather than an academic one. It looks like the same could be said here.

If Penn State is hosting the men's NIT game for the extra revenue and television exposure, it can no longer deny that it runs its athletic programs as a business venture. And, if the business aspect is all that important, why not get rid of all non-revenue producing sports. We could truly become "Linebacker U."

Face it, Penn State, you blew it. The Lady Lions deserve another home game more than the men, at this point. I just hope that a Nittany Lion game on ESPN is worth your reputation as a leader in women's athletics.