Jack Piatt
Daily Egyptian
As Title IX celebrates its 30th anniversary and the progress the legislation has achieved, there are still questions to be answered for men's programs that are suffering instead of celebrating.
Although Title IX has created many opportunities for women in the last 30 years and the concept of the law has good intentions, there are still complaints coming from the men's sports programs.
Between 1981 and 1999, NCAA and NAIA colleges eliminated 40 percent of their wrestling teams, 84 men's tennis teams and 56 men's gymnastics teams, according to Congress' General Accounting Office.
The opposition points out that cutting men's teams in the name of Title IX infringes on the basis of the law and why it was written.
As stated in the preamble of Title IX, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Women now make up the majority of students in American colleges and universities. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of U.S. women earning doctoral degrees almost doubled between 1977 and 1994 from just over 7,500 to almost 14,000. More than 100,000 women participate in intercollegiate athletics, a fourfold increase since 1971.
The numbers are steadily rising, and Title IX has proven its importance. The argument on the side of men's programs is not how substantial Title IX is, but how the law is being carried out.
SIU former head track and field coach Bill Cornell said when former head baseball coach Itch Jones needed money and support for the baseball program, he went out and worked his tail off for it. "After the baseball team received the rewards for their work, the women's softball team wanted the same thing, but they wanted it handed to them," Cornell said. "There needs to be a Title X to amend Title IX," Cornell said.
In the Missouri Valley Conference, teams are experiencing difficulty holding on to some sports programs. While football is usually never affected with the amount of scholarships available to the program, teams like tennis, swimming, wrestling and golf feel the cuts.
Bradley University has recently cut its swimming team, along with Northern Iowa, which recently reinstated the swimming program because of threatened lawsuits backed by Title IX.
SIUC Athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said the Athletic Department needs to add as many programs as it can within reason and financial restraints.
"Women's sports should be added without cutting men's sports," Kowalczyk said.
Even with the progress and improvements brought about by Title IX, there are still many questions to be answered for men who have lost the opportunity to play competitively at the college level because of pressure from Title IX.
"It's unfortunate that schools have eliminated men's sports as an answer," Kowalczyk said.
Reporter Jack Piatt can be reached at jpiatt@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
