A recent report by the Philadelphia-based Women's Law Project (WLP) lauded Penn State for female participation in athletics but said the university still needs more funding for women's athletics.

"It's an excellent example of a school with a top-notch football program providing equal opportunities for women's athletics, but there are still funding inequities," said David Cohen, the report's author and a staff attorney for WLP.

In its report, WLP examined public data for 110 Pennsylvania colleges and universities for the past three years and determined if they provide equal athletic opportunities for women and men.

Across the state, women would have 8,000 more athletic opportunities if all schools met the requirements of the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, the report said.

Passed in 1972, the Title IX Amendment focuses on equality for men and women in collegiate athletics.

Title IX prohibits any institution of higher education that receives federal funding from discriminating based on gender.

Because of expensive football programs, many colleges have difficulty in spending an equal amount on women's athletics.

While Penn State spends only 30 percent of its budget on women's athletics, the university has a proportional number of female athletes compared to the number of overall female students, Cohen said.

Last year, 47 percent of University Park students were women, and women made up 44 percent of Penn State athletes, he said.

Penn State tries to provide programs for all students, Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said.

"We support all the women's teams," he said. "Some of our best athletes are women."

The Penn State athletic department evaluates its gender equity on an annual basis and fills out required reports for the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and Equity and Disclosures Act for Athletics, said Associate Athletic Director Susan Scheetz.

"Every year, we come out well in gender equity and haven't found we need to add another sport," Scheetz said. "We sponsor one of the biggest women's athletics programs and sponsor more sports than some of our Big Ten counterparts."

Penn State's female recruitment has improved over the years, women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said.

"Women have more athletic opportunities here than in the past," she said. "Across the university, coaches are recruiting for the spots available, and there's more spots on some male teams."

Some athletic teams receive less funding than other Big Ten schools, which can affect a team's performance, Baker said.

"For example, we have to pay more to travel than other schools, and we're the only tennis program in the Big Ten without a six-court facility," she said.

"It takes longer to play matches here and takes away the home-court advantage," she added.

Penn State's athletic department needs several changes to treat women more fairly, Cohen said.

"Good participation numbers don't indicate a good program across the board," Cohen said.

"It could treat lesbians better, take sexual assault more seriously and spend more money on recruiting female athletes," he added.