The Harvard Athletic Department in a press conference yesterday defended itself against a report that shows large disparities between spending levels for men's and women's sports.

Also yesterday, the coaches of all the women's teams held a private meeting to discuss the report.

Although many coaches said the spending figures are unfair, they decided to take no action until after Athletic Department officials have had a chance to explain the disparity in a meeting scheduled for next week.

The controversy was sparked by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) report that listed the participation rates, operating costs, coaches' salaries and recruiting costs of men's and women's athletics for the 1995-96 academic year.

By law, the EADA had to be made public on Tuesday.

The EADA was written to bolster the efforts of Title IX, which is part of a 1972 law that guarantees equality for women in collegiate athletics.

According to the report, 253 more male athletes participated in Harvard athletics than did women. And men's teams spent almost double on total costs and four times on recruiting costs.

In all, men's teams spent $2,146,493 to the women's $1,158,438.

Athletic Director William J.Cleary Jr. '56 and Associate Athletic Director Patricia Henry downplayed the importance of the spending discrepancies in yesterday's press conference, choosing instead to focus on participation levels and the needs of the particular sports.

"What we're trying to do here is not match dollar-for-dollar, because if we were matching dollar-for-dollar, I'm not sure we would be spending our money totally wisely," Henry said. "What we are trying to do is meet the needs of what our coaches think they need to run their programs."

Cleary and Henry promised that Harvard would not take measures on behalf of Title IX that would cut or put minimum roster sizes on men's teams, actions that many other universities have done to make the ratio of male to female athletes more closely resemble the student body ratio.

"We want to improve all opportunities for women, but not at the expense of cutting men's teams," Cleary said. "All of our coaches know that if we can get more people to compete, we will."

The issue, however, is a contentious one. Other universities that have not taken such steps have been sued by student athletes.

Women's Coaches

Two hours before the athletic department's press conference, the coaches of Harvard's women's teams met behind closed doors to discuss the report, which was dropped off in their mailboxes shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Speaking on behalf of all the women's coaches, women's swimming coach Maura Costin Scalise said that she was excited about the upcoming meeting with the athletic department and was glad that these issues were getting out into the open.

"It was enlightening and so I think that it needs an explanation," Costin Scalise said. "It is wonderful that they have opened up for discussion [with] both male and female coaches."

Costin Scalise commended the report for allowing coaches to see what goes on in other departments--which rarely otherwise happens--because it will show coaches how much they are entitled to.

"It was great, because with this published report the coaches can now say, 'Hey I need more money to make my program better," Costin Scalise said. "It enlightened women's coaches in that now they can ask for more to make their programs successful."

Above all, though, the women's coaches just want to get the reasons behind the numbers.

"It's hard to compare apples and oranges, and when you look at bottom line it is a little shocking," Costin Scalise said.

Cleary and Henry said that they are afraid that people will compare the dollar amounts without looking at the reasons behind them, and said that was their motivation for holding a press conference.

It was the first time in several years that Cleary allowed himself to be quoted on the record in a student publication.

Cleary attributed the high cost of recruiting for men's teams to the fact that some of the teams require a high level of recruiting to stay competitive in the Ivy League.

He noted that much of the recruiting dollar is consumed by men's hockey, which goes after many Canadian players.

Cleary also stressed that the department is in the process of merging the alumni donation funds for each sport, commonly known as the "Friends of" groups.

For instance, the Friends of Harvard Basketball alumni groups have merged into one fund and, by the end of the year, all similar sports will be joined.

He said this will mean that teams will no longer have funds of different sizes.

The only sports that will not be joined are those that are only played by one sex, namely field hockey, football and wrestling. However, Cleary said these funding pools would be bolstered if they started to lag behind the combined groups.

On the potentially contentious $8,000-gap between the salaries of coaches of men's teams and women's teams, Cleary said that many factors go into how much a coach is paid, including experience, performance and a coach's market value. Every position and salary is approved by the Human Resources department of the faculty.

All in all, Cleary said he is confident that any difficulties this report has created with the women's coaches will be ironed out.

"I feel absolutely comfortable," Cleary said. "Perfect, no; but comfortable. There was only one guy that could walk on water, and it wasn't me.