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It's time to put the AX to title IX
by: Shawn Griffin from SportsTerminal.com
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(This is the first part of a three-part series on Title IX. I would like to credit the great Jessica Gavora, author of "Tilting the Playing Field," for reference materials.)
I wrote a column recently which dealt with the fact that political correctness has yet to infiltrate the sports playing field. In response to that column I received many e-mails and phone calls (how did you people get my number, anyway? Memo to self -- make sure to have programmer delete phone number from site...).
One e-mail stood out for its directness. It was from Scott, who wrote,
"The politically correct police have infiltrated sports! They call it title IX, and the National Organization for men haters, uh I mean women, is helping ruin male sports opportunities."
I read this e-mail and thought to myself, "Shawn, you are an IDIOT! How could you miss this one?" It was like that Chris Farley skit on SNL when he interviews somebody famous and then yells at himself for acting like a moron. That's exactly how I felt. But, thanks to Scott, I have a chance to redeem myself.
Scott is right about Title IX. What is it, you ask? Let me tell you.
Congress passed Title IX of the Educational Amendments in 1972. It read, "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."
Sounds good, doesn't it? I mean, who would be against that? I'm not. But, like many well-meaning laws put into place, this one has been distorted to the point where it now does what it intended to put an end to -- it discriminates. As applied to organized sports, this law, which was designed in good faith to end discrimination against women, now denies men their right to participate in organized athletics.
How, you ask?
Well, as it stands now, Title IX assumes that both men and women will be equally interested in organized sports and, if proportional numbers of participants do not exist, then something is wrong.
For example, let's take a look at Central Connecticut State University. In June of 1999, the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights sent a letter to the Athletic Director of Central Connecticut, warning that they must add 20 female athletes to their sports roster in order to comply with Title IX. The college had already brought the percentage of its female athletes up to 49 from 29 by DROPPING men's wrestling and adding women's lacrosse. But females made up 51% of the students at Central Connecticut, so the Office of Civil Rights demanded that the school add 20 more female athletes.
They are now in a quandary -- do they add a women's sport (even though there is no demand) or do they cut a men's program? Well, let's see…what do you think happened?
During the past 30 years, over 400 men's collegiate athletic teams have been eliminated. This not only affects smaller schools -- Iowa State, Kansas and the University of Nebraska have all begun cutting their men's athletic programs. The University of Wisconsin at Madison has been put on notice that their athletic programs are not proportional. Schools throughout the land have been targeted by the politically correct police and are now under siege, cutting men's programs to conform to this discriminatory law that, under the guise of "gender equity," has denied men their right to participate in organized sports.
Instead of raising women's participation, all Title IX does these days is drag men's participation down.
That's the definition of equality in today's world. How sad.
(Parts two and three will look at the sports being hurt the most and the reasons behind this movement, along with what is being done to rectify this bad situation.)
See more of Shawn's columns at SportsTerminal.com,
and feel free to e-mail him at shawng@sportsterminal.com!
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