Marissa Meyerhoefer dreamed of wearing a college volleyball jersey since she was 10 years old. She dreamed of what mascot she would cheer on, which colors she would religiously wear and what number would be displayed across her back. And one day — her dream came true. 

Meyerhoefer committed to UNC Chapel Hill in the spring of 2019 where her dream has since been fulfilled with Carolina blue jerseys and hours spent in Carmichael Arena. Despite the trials and tribulations of balancing athletics and academics, Meyerhoefer says that she knows she made the right choice. 

However, is UNC making the right choice for her? 

Throughout history, it is known that collegiate athletic programs often spend more money in male departments than female departments. Aside from the lack of money being directly funded into University programs, there is also a lack of support from the NCAA and beyond. 

As a student at UNC, and in the state of North Carolina in general, March Madness is a highly anticipated part of our spring semester. We wait around to craft brackets and competitions with friends and anxiously wait to see which teams will battle each other for the championship title. All we think about is competition. 

However, we don’t usually think about the competition between male and female programs.

In March 2021, Ali Kershner, the performance coach at Stanford posted two photos on social media — one showing the women’s basketball weight room for the tournament and one showing the men’s basketball weight room for the tournament. The post received more likes and shares than she thought, and eventually made its way to national news (Jhaveri, 2021). 

Though this lack of funding and equality was brought to the attention of many — many more issues still go unspoken across the country, in various different departments.

Sources:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2019/04/24/why-gender-equity-in-college-sports-is-impossible-unless-colleges-do-something-radical/?sh=1fd418d0244e
• https://www.uplifterinc.com/31-motivational-quotes-female-athletes
• https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2021-10-26/second-ncaa-gender-equity-report-shows-spending-disparities#:~:text=The%20NCAA%20spent%20%244%2C285%20per,championships%20than%20for%20the%20women’s.
• https://www.athleticscholarships.net/title-ix-college-athletics-5.htm