Title IX Special to The Daily News by Mike Chapman

Jan. 11, 2000

When it comes to demanding equal opportunity and fair play for all athletes, a new political activist group centered in Iowa ranks Bill Bradley the worst presidential candidate and Steve Forbes the best. It's a somewhat ironic twist since Bradley is the candidate with the longest resume in athletics. He was an All-American basketball player at Princeton and a star in the NBA.

"Bill Bradley doesn't seem to care about equal opportunity for all young athletes," said Eric LeSher of West Des Moines, president of Iowans Against Quotas. "His position seems to be that as long as he received the opportunity to play basketball and his daughter was able to participate, he doesn't care about all of the thousands and thousands of young male athletes who are being shut out of the process."

Three Republican candidates rank high, according to LeSher. Topping the list is Forbes, who was the first candidate to sign the group's petition which urges the next president of the United States to abolish the gender quota known as proportionality as a measurement for compliance with Title IX. Also signing the petition are Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer.

The group, formed last summer, has gathered nearly 3,500 signatures on a petition which calls for presidential candidates to do away with the proportionality clause in Title IX. They plan to work hard and gather steam right up through the general election next November, said LeSher.

"In addition, the efforts of Iowans Against Quotas has caught the attention of others throughout the country and a national petition drive is under way," said LeSher. "As people are educated about proportionality, it becomes crystal clear to them that a gender quota system in college athletics is not what was envisioned when Title IX became law. They are very upset that a well intentioned law is being implemented in such a morally wrong manner."

Title IX was voted into law by Congress in 1972 as a way of helping women gain a stronger foothold in collegiate activities. It has been used mostly in the area of sports, and has grown increasingly destructive, say IAQ advocates, under the Clinton administration. The way it is being enforced has led to the destruction of nearly 400 male college programs over the last seven years, says LeSher.

According to figures complied by the Independent Women's Forum in Washington D.C., a total of 364 male sports programs have been dropped. The losses are as follows: Baseball 16, fencing 9, football 12, golf 53, gymnastics 15, ice hockey 4, lacrosse 11, rifle 11, soccer 11, skiing 3, swimming 23, tennis 39, outdoor track 27, indoor track 39, cross country 25, volleyball 7, water polo 6 and wrestling 43.

"That's tragic," says Dale Anderson, an attorney who has worked for the Reform and Oversight Committee in Washington D.C. and is an adviser for IAQ. A former Iowa state high school wrestling champion from Waterloo, Anderson won two NCAA titles at Michigan State before earning a law degree at the University of Virginia. He now lives in Minneapolis, but is traveling throughout Iowa helping to spread the word on the destructiveness of quotas, particularly in the area of Title IX.

"Using a quota to enforce Title IX virtually assures the extinction of all male Olympic sports at the college level," he said. "There is just no way male athletes can avoid the numbers crunch of the bean-counting bureaucrats at the Department of Education. Al Gore's administration presently favors the quota, and Bradley's administration would be even worse."

"In an era when politicians are talking about ways to get kids involved in after-school programs, and Tipper Gore goes on national television to talk about the urgent need for male mentors, why are we cutting male sports programs like crazy because of a quota?" said LeSher. "Coaches are the best mentors for young males, and sports programs are the best way to keep young boys busy and provide self esteem. Yet, under this administration's enforcement of proportionality, male sports programs are being eliminated like never before."

Republican Congressman Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, has called Title IX the law of unintended consequences, saying the intent was to provide more opportunities for females, not destroy opportunities for males. "The problem," says Anderson, "is the quota, proportionality. There are three ways Title IX can be enforced, but the Office of Civil Rights, under the direction of Norma Cantu, has the misguided notion that only proportionality counts. Proportionality is nothing but a quota in that it ties athletic participation directly to gender enrollment."

In other words, says Anderson, if 55 percent of the students in a university are female (the national average), then the percentage of female athletes must be 55 percent. "In order to achieve this absurd quota, educational administrators are simply dumping male athletes."

"That will be the coup d grace for all male Olympic sports," says Anderson.

"Nothing but football and basketball will remain for the men. The numbers will dictate that, without question."

That would be, in the eyes of the IAQ group, outrageous and unfair. What proportionality does, they maintain, is discriminate against males. While the problem is mostly at the college level now, LeSher says the OCR, under Cantu's direction, is already moving to the high schools.

There is a simple solution, say Anderson and LeSher: Do away with the proportionality rule, and continue to enforce prongs two and three. Prong two requires that there be a history of continuous increase of opportunity for all females to participate in sports, and prong three requires that schools accommodate all female interest and abilities existing at the school.

Anderson says prong one always results in the elimination of male athletes without increasing female participation - and prongs two and three always result in increased female participation without destroying male participatory opportunities.

"If we can abolish proportionality, females will continue to have increased opportunities, and males will not have their programs cut from under them any longer," said LeSher. "I have two boys and a daughter at home. As things stand right now, if they were of equal athletic talent, my daughter would have a much better chance of getting an athletic scholarship in college than would my son. Is that fair?"

The situation has drawn considerable media attention. Initially, most of it was in favor of Title IX. Now, the pendulum is swinging the other way, says LeSher. Jessica Gavora of The Independent Women's Forum recently wrote a blistering attack on Bradley. Also, Bryant Gumble, on his TV program "Real Sports," said Title IX needs to be changed. A special program on 20/20 last year came out strongly in favor of revamping Title IX.

LeSher believes all that needs to be done is to have candidates take a good, honest look at Title IX's proportionality rule, and they will realize there is a much better way to enforce the law.

But LeSher says Bradley in particular has refused to do so.

"Mr. Bradley has been questioned specifically about his stance on proportionality on many occasions on his trips to Iowa. In fact, not only has he been questioned about the issue several times, he himself, his wife and members of his staff have been given and readily accepted information on this issue. Mr. Bradley's and his staff's responses to date have been all over the board. On different occasions he has pleaded ignorance on the issue, avoided the issue, stated that adjustments needed to be made with Title IX, and stated that he believes proportionality should be used to achieve equity."

In a trip to Newton earlier in the winter, Bradley was asked point-blank about the proportionality dilemma by Bryan Van Kley, a resident of Newton who publishes the national wrestling magazine, WIN. Bradley told Van Kley that if he had to choose between losing a few men's program and the progress women have made, he would lose a few men's programs.

"The problem with that response is - nearly 400 programs certainly isn't a few," said Van Kley. "And a candidate with a repeated desire to protect everyone in society and to end divisiveness certainly should be able to find a solution to a problem which is dividing men and women sports fans and parents."

"I personally do not feel that Mr. Bradley is ignorant about the issue, but rather that he simply finds it easier to avoid the issue for fear that he will alienate one of his corps support groups," said LeSher.

"We think Bill Bradley needs to take a good, hard look at this situation. Just because he was able to play basketball at Princeton doesn't mean other males shouldn't have the opportunity to participate in sports they like."

"This has become a huge issue," said LeSher. "Once the public becomes fully aware of what is going on, this issue will explode. All we want is fair treatment for both genders and for the OCR to stop beating up on male athletes."

Comments & Questions -- info@ncmat.com