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It's time to put the AX to title IX, Part II
by: Shawn Griffin from SportsTerminal.com
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This is the second part of my column dealing with the volatile issue of Title IX. As the lawsuit against the rule changes to this law moves through the court system, I am sure that this issue will be discussed much further in the coming months.
We already know that, while attempting to "even" the playing field in collegiate sports, Title IX simply accomplishes this by getting rid of men's programs.
Which programs are most affected by this discriminatory law, you ask?
It's not the big name sports such as football and basketball -- it's the unglamorous sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and track and field.
It's the wrestler, swimmer or gymnast who spent years working his ass off to excel and get a scholarship, only to have the rug pulled out from under him in the name of "equality."
Since 1972, when Title IX was implemented, 400 men's collegiate athletic teams have been eliminated, including more than 170 men's wrestling programs. In just the last 10 years, 350 men's programs have been cut.
The National Wrestling Coaches Association recently filed a lawsuit against the Education Department. It read, "capping a male athlete off a team or cutting an entire men's team solely because not enough female students have an interest in athletics is gender discrimination per se -- with absolutely no corresponding benefit to women."
The lawsuit contends that as a result of a 1996 clarification of Title IX and court interpretations of those rules, many colleges and universities have cut men's teams, rather than adding women's teams, and see this as the only way to achieve equality.
In the past, numerous lawsuits have been filed against schools, but none of them have been successful. The difference in this case is that the NWCA suit actually challenges the rules themselves, arguing they were adopted illegally. It wants the court to force the Education Department to write new ones defining compliance as providing opportunities for female athletes based on
INTEREST rather than enrollment. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Then why are the militant feminists and other Title IX proponents against this?
Because they are scared to death of one thing -- the truth. Reality demands it. The interest in women's athletics simply
DOES NOT measure up to the interest in men's sports. This fact of life just will never be accepted by these militants because they want you to believe that men and women are completely equal. I am sorry, folks, but they aren't. Just as they are different physically, men and women are different mentally. This is not to say that men are better or that women are better -- it's simply pointing out that there is a difference. These differences obviously have an effect on various interests.
So how do we resolve this problem so that women who want to participate in collegiate athletics are not discriminated against?
It's simple -- if there is enough of an interest for a women's sport, the college should fund that sport. If not, then they shouldn't. That's fair. What is NOT fair is to get rid of men's programs in order to comply with Title IX.
In this era of political correctness, let's hope that for once fairness and justice win out over fantasy and fallacy.
See more of Shawn's columns at SportsTerminal.com,
and feel free to e-mail him at shawng@sportsterminal.com!
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