A presidential commission has come at least partly to the rescue. One proposal is to poll students on whether they want to play sports and to use those numbers in determining compliance. Another is to lean more heavily on two other criteria besides proportionality in determining compliance. Those are to demonstrate that the wish for participation is being accommodated and to have a record of extending chances for women to participate. Education Secretary Rod Paige must embrace these methods for them to be incorporated as enforcement techniques for the law. The Associated Press quotes him as being "pleased" at the commission's work.

I think the group should have gone further and scrapped the proportionality test altogether. Reportedly, there was considerable sentiment to do that, but also disagreements as to how.

Some critics seem to think the commission was phony, but it did not include members of a coaches group that filed suit to get the compliance standards overturned. That group did pronounce itself pleased with the recommendations as at least a start to more equity in how the law works. If more equity does not ensue - if the proportionality test should continue in effect as it has to date - it would seem to me their court case is a very good one.

The executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation is quoted as thinking great harm could be done because of the recommendations. But why - because an irrational formula has been dropped? Is it just numbers that matter, or fairness and the extension of opportunities for those seeking them?

And is there no reason for those of us who believe in liberty to agree with those arguing that it is an outrage that a law that was meant to end discrimination has been used by an overzealous government to bring about discrimination?

That is not the way America is supposed to work.

Title IX, has expanded opportunities for women in education and sports programs. The law states that no person can be excluded from participation in programs or activities on the basis of sex.

The percentage of girls playing high school sports has increased dramatically since Congress approved Title IX, increasing from the neighborhood of 3 percent to more than 33 percent.

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 concept of strict proportionality - where scholarships must precisely match percentage of enrollment - is not logical.
Generally, women are as interested in sports participation as men.

Fairness, however, is seldom that simple. The fact is that, because of the budget cuts necessitated by compliance to Title IX, female athletes are now accommodated more completely than their male counterparts.

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.

Title IX is no longer just a civil-rights measure that guarantees equal opportunity for women in college athletics but is now seen as a rigid rule based on strict proportionality that does more to harm men than it does to help women.

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.

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