Are American colleges and schools complying with Title IX?

There is no financial data available at the high school level but data relating to participation shows that while girls comprise 50% of the student body they only receive 39% of sports program opportunities.

It is also estimated that over 80% of universities and colleges are not in compliance.

Title IX has been with us for nearly 40 years yet women account for only 42% of college athletes, and women's sports programs receive only 32% of the recruiting dollars and 36% of overall athletic funding in colleges and universities with substantial sports programs.

It is also estimated that 2/3 of the institutions that comply with Title IX do so not by having a proportionate share of women athletes, but by demonstrating that they have increased athletic opportunities for women.

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 NWCA lawsuit helped bring the Title IX issue to the public. The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics provided an open public forum that allowed those seeking change a real opportunity to make their case.

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.

Proportionality has led to an understandable outcry among male athletes, coaches and alumni and a growing movement to reform Title IX.

Over 400 men's teams have disappeared since Title IX was enacted. 1000s of male athletes - mostly in such sports as wrestling, swimming and gymnastics - no longer have the opportunities they once had.

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 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 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.

There is more to the troubles in college sports than the battle between the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East. Title IX,  has produced unintended consequences.

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."

Young women, driven to excel in their chosen sports and pressured to fit a specific body image (e.g., leanness, low percent body fat, or lower weight) to attain their performance goals, place themselves at risk for developing disordered eating patterns and changes to Menstrual Function.

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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