DuCharme, Joseph

After the Women's Track and Field Club's first petition in 1981, David L. Watkins, the chairman of the Department of Physical Education, wrote to Comptroller Robert W. Belyea in 1982 urging the club's elevation to intercollegiate team status. He writes that women students have participated in the Track and Field Club for five years and have conducted "a quality program." He argues that creating this women's team would allow the college to offer nine intercollegiate sports for women in comparison to the ten for men.

According to a petition by the Women's Track and Field Club for elevation to intercollegiate team status, the club was formed during the 1980 season. The petition juxtaposes the lack of the club's intercollegiate team status to the speed with which the Women's Cross Country Club went intercollegiate: formed in 1979, it competed in the intercollegiate capacity during the 1980 and 1981 season. As a club, Women's Track and Field had access to equipment and coaching "only through the good graces of the men's team," which was already in existence.