Over the years, the second and third options have fallen into disfavor because they don't offer a safe haven from lawsuits. Marking progress by the addition of women's sports made sense when the regulations were written, but it couldn't continue indefinitely. And the legal standard for "fully and effectively accommodated" was ill-defined.

However, the first standard causes problems as well. As female college enrollments climb, it becomes an ever higher target to reach; nationwide, 56 percent of college students are female. In pursuit of the target, institutions have cut hundreds of men's programs, especially in wrestling and swimming. Whether or not women's interests are fully accommodated, it is certain that opportunities for men are declining relative to their enrollment.

The current interpretation of Title IX does not even allow for the possibility that men and women may differ in the extent to which they want to participate in athletics. If the rest of higher education were regulated like athletics, universities would have to close their teacher-training programs for lack of male interest and their engineering schools for lack of female interest.

That wouldn't make much sense, and neither does the way Title IX has been applied to sports. Reform is badly needed.

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

Baseball I Basketball I Bowling I Cross Country I Fencing I Field Hockey I Football I Golf I Gymnastics I Ice Hockey
Lacrosse I Rowing I Skiing I Soccer I Softball I Swimming I Tennis I Track and Field
Volleyball I Water Polo I Wrestling

The first thing Jamie Moffatt wants to make clear is that he is not trying to trash Title IX. But he firmly believes Title IX is broken and needs to be repaired.

The National Women's Law Center said the Bush Administration "weakened" Title IX. They claimed that the "Department of Education makes it easy for schools to escape their responsibility under Title IX."

"They say that Title IX is under attack and it is not. They say that Griffith was attacking Title IX, and he didn't. He was just trying to reform Title IX," said Pearson.

Since most NCAA schools remain well short of proportional compliance, it is natural to assume relaxing Title IX's requirements would only exacerbate the existing gender disparity.

Former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Norma Cantu candidly acknowledges her desire to rebut the widely held view that Title IX is responsible for the decline in the number of men's sports opportunities.

The three sports of swimming, track, and wrestling that bring home the most Olympic medals for the United States have been hit the hardest by Title IX.

"These are perilous times," said Brand. "The future of Title IX is uncertain. We do not know what Secretary Paige will do with the recommendations of the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics."

When it comes to cutting men's track programs, West Virginia is hardly alone. In the last few years, universities such as St. John's, Tulane, Vermont, Toledo and Bowling Green have all axed their men's track teams.

While 96 NCAA colleges scratched wrestling from 1980-90, only 20 programs have been dropped in the past five years. Supporters point to several reasons why wrestling should not be cut.

 Title IX improving the application of current Federal standards for measuring equal opportunity."

And, these are the people, who, for whatever reasons (such as Title IX) are not adding new wrestling teams to college athletics.