It's been just over a week since the school's historic vote, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College already is making plans to add four men's sports teams next year.

R-MWC's athletic department has decided to add basketball, cross country, soccer and tennis to its programs. Men also will be added to the riding team, which will be coed. Also, a women's cross country team will be added next year.

Valerie Cushman, R-MWC's athletic director and chairwoman of physical education, said Friday that the athletic department has considered what men's teams to select for the past month.

Working with the school's coaching staff and a student athletic advisory council, Cushman looked at the competition in the area and made a list of potential sports that could generate complete rosters and could be accommodated by the school.

Senior Sara Rechnitzer, who is a member of the school's basketball team and of the advisory council, said it was "heartbreaking" when she heard about the added teams.

There are currently no plans to change the school's black and gold colors or the WildCat  mascot, which represents the WC in the college's name. Keeping the mascot, Cushman said, would keep a part of R-MWC alive.

Officials are in the process of creating brochures and pamphlets to promote the new programs. They also are beginning to seek coaches for the male sports teams. They hope to have the coaches hired for the 2007 sports programs by Jan. 1 and the coaches for the 2008 teams by July.

The athletic department has already fielded a handful of phone calls and e-mails from prospective coaches and male students inquiring about the added programs.

R-MWC also will have to adhere to Title IX - a 1972 amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act - that bars sex discrimination in federally funded education, including in sports.

School officials are planning to open a new state-of-the-art physical education and recreation/student activity center, which also will include building a separate dance studio/theater. The project, which was part of the college's 1997 facilities master plan, also will accommodate the men's sport teams.

Although many college officials have said they expect to admit about 35 male students next year, Cushman said she hopes the added sports teams will increase the projected male enrollment.

Six implementation groups have been created to help make the college's strategic plan a reality, said William A. Coulter, dean of the college. The groups are composed of faculty, staff, board of trustees members and students; they will be in charge of addressing different issues including campus life, curriculum and marketing and recruiting.

Coulter said the college currently has enough dorm space for the projected amount of men next year. Men and women will occupy the same dorms, but will be divided by floors.

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