Responding to a complaint by Dartmouth's softball team, the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the New Hampshire school for possible violations of a law requiring "equal opportunity" for women in intercollegiate athletics.

The complaint, filed last month by the entire team, says Dartmouth discriminates against women by giving more money and administrative support to men's athletics programs. Title IX of the 1972. Education Amendments prohibits gender discrimination by any university receiving federal assistance.

The school's softball team is recognized only as a club sport, while the baseball team is a varsity sport, the complaint says. "To not have a comparable women's sports offering a suitable level of competition is discriminatory," the complaint charges.

Alex Huppe, a spokesperson for Dartmouth, refused to comment on the substance of the complaint Wednesday. But he said that Dartmouth was working hard to comply with requests for information filed by the Department of Education.

The department has not asked the college for a specific response to the complaint. A spokesperson for the department did not return phone calls this week.

Erica Beisler, a senior co-captain of the softball team, said she had worked for several years with college officials to improve the team's status.

"I'm a senior, and I've been working on this since freshman fall," Beisler said. "At this point, we felt we had exhausted every avenue that was open to us."

The complaint also charges the Dartmouth athletic department with discrimination because the school's spending on women's athletics fails to keep pace with the percentage of women enrolled in the college.

According to estimates made by the team members, 42 percent of the department's budget goes to women while 48 percent of all Dartmouth students are women. Dartmouth athletics officials have refused to release official numbers, Beisler said.

"Basically, they are in violation of Title IX," Beisler said.

A similar discrepancy exists at Harvard. According to an internal Department of Athletics report, 32 percent of the University's sports budget goes to women's teams, while women constitute 42 percent of the student body.

Athletics officials both here and at Dartmouth have defended the discrepancy by saying that the percent of money spent on women's teams reflects the number of women participating in sports. Critics argue that if departments spent more, more women would play.

The Dartmouth, the campus newspaper, reported that the complaint was prompted by a confrontation between the college's softball and baseball teams over field space. The baseball coach ordered the softball players off the field, the newspaper said.

Members of the softball team had initially threatened to take action against Dartmouth in July 1991, The Dartmouth said. The complaint charges that the team had a verbal commitment from college officials to convert softball to varsity status over a three-year period, but officials later reneged.

Beisler said her team had been competitive despite the lack of funding, and had played Harvard's varsity softball team to a close game. She said that because the team is not a varsity sport and has to rely on volunteer coaching, scheduling games is difficult.

"We played your team at the end of the year," said Beisler, "and we hung in there."