Women's Lacrosse Coach Carole Kleinfelder keeps a manila folder marked `Title IX' on her desk. It's stuffed full with clippings that she's collected during her 15 years at Harvard.

While women's sports in the College have come a long way since 1972, when equitable funding first became the law, Kleinfelder says she sees "boys' club" attitudes persisting in the athletic department.

Though Harvard has not committed any "blatant" violations of Title IX--which states that schools receiving federal aid must provide "equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes"--Kleinfelder says that the College's athletic department is not abiding by the spirit of the law.

Kleinfelder says she believes that under a strict interpretation of the law, in fact, "there are grounds for lawsuits here."

"I have seen changes in finances but not in attitude [at Harvard]," says the coach. "Athletics is seen as a right for men and a privilege for women."

Athletic department officials, however, maintain that they seek to provide the same opportunities to all sports and denies any preferential treatment for men's teams.

"No one should have any doubt about the the support we give to women's athletic teams," says Athletic Director William J. Cleary.

Cleary and other department administrators, including Senior Associate Director for Athletics Francis J. Toland, say operating budgets for the regular season amount to equitable funding for women's teams. Toland, who oversees budget allocations, refused last week to disclose any specific figures.

Kleinfelder, who led her team to the national title two years ago, might seem to be the sole critic in a department known to keep a tight ship. Yet, though many other coaches say the department does fund and treat women's teams adequately, Kleinfelder is not alone in her perception that men's athletics take priority over women's at Harvard.

`Subtle Inequities'

While some coaches point to what Field Hockey Coach Susan Caples calls "subtle inequities" in resources, many student athletes say they are more conscious of differences in the way men's and women's teams are treated on a day-to-day basis.

"I've felt that women aren't treated equally in terms of sports teams," says Rachel L. Schultz '93, a former varsity lacrosse and soccer player. "You see it in thetraining room--[women athletes] have to wait forthe football and hockey players to leave first."

Similarly, varsity ice hockey player ErinVilliotte '95 says that when a new scoreboard wasbeing installed at Bright Hockey Center earlierthis year, the men's team complained about reducedice time and was given two to three hours ofskating time.

"The women's team was given no additional icetime," Villiotte says.

Men's ice hockey player Matthew F. Mallgrave'93 notes, however, that "That was a reallyimportant practice for us. The women's seasondidn't open until later."

The women's ice hockey season opened a weekafter the men's this year.