Over the past year and a half, Tulane University has neglected the needs of the Tulane Women’s Swim and Dive Team and of the general student body. Currently, the Reily Natatorium sits empty as programs such as Swim4Sucess, Tulane Club Waterpolo, Special Olympics, and Tulane Swim and Dive have been forced to either disband or continue to struggle to find other facilities in the New Orleans area. This is both frustrating for us as a team as well as the general community that had previously benefited from the Reily pool. We call for action and support from the Tulane University student body in regards to the level of neglect and violation of gender equality in athletics that the Swim and Dive team has had to endure.

The Impacts 

With the additional 10 hours of travel each week to our temporary practice facility, we are experiencing negative impacts on our mental health and infringements on our academic opportunities. Despite this, we continue to strive for success in and out of the pool. Without Reily, we are relegated to traveling to and from practices in other parts of New Orleans, which seems both unsustainable long term, financially, and practically.  Further, without an on campus facility, recruiting high-level athletes will be challenging due to the competition with Division one programs that have adequate facilities.

Title IX

The lack of an on campus pool for the Women’s Swim and Dive team is a direct violation of the Title IX regulation stating that Universities must provide equal opportunities for male and female student athletes when it comes to locker rooms and competitive facilities. Tulane Athletics has swept these issues under the rug for the past year and continues to avoid the apparent gender disparities. With the lack of a home base, we struggle to feel like a valuable part of Tulane Athletics. 

Lost Opportunities 

Unfortunately, organizations such as the Tulane Special Olympics Team and Swim4Success have been forced to disband and no longer have a facility to continue their programming. The Tulane Special Olympics Team provided swim lessons to community members with intellectual and physical disabilities. Swim4Success was a student-run organization that provided children with swim lessons and taught water safety. These programs, which once contributed to the further benefit of the New Orleans community, now cease to exist due to the lack of action from Tulane University.