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BLOODBATH AT MIAMI OF OHIO: FOUR MEN'S SPORTS TARGETED TO BE CUT

A destructive push for proportionality is now underway on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, a member of the Mid American Conference. For the past year, the university has been considering a number of gender equity proposals. It seems that perhaps the harshest possible decision could become reality - the elimination of FOUR men's sports teams at one time.

On Thursday, January 21, Miami Univ. President James Garland recommended that the school drop its men's wrestling, soccer, tennis and golf teams at the end of the school year. His recommendation will be considered at the trustees meeting on February 6.

As with other male sports cutbacks on campus, the reason given was Title IX. Garland attempted to deflect responsibility by inferring that he had no choice except to make this decision. Garland told the Associated Press, "I have no desire to close down sports or deny future opportunities to male Miami student-athletes. However, Miami has an obligation to provide opportunities for female student-athletes."

The problem is that this recommendation adds no new opportunities for women at Miami. In fact, the move is being used to save about $441,000. The university projects an athletics deficit next year of about $1 million. In addition, by eliminating male sports opportunities, it brings Miami closer to proportionality gender-quota numbers.

Miami fields 22 sports teams, but the teams on the chopping block spend very little of the total budget. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, wrestling is just 2.2 percent of the budget, tennis 1.7 percent and soccer 0.8 percent. However, the number of athlete "slots" eliminated for quota purposes is about 73 men (30 wrestlers, 25 soccer players, 10 tennis players and 8 golfers).

All of the teams have been successful. The golf team was third in the MAC this year and 13th in the nation. Wrestling was third in the MAC in 1998, and boasts eight MAC titles. Tennis placed fourth in the MAC this year.

Obviously, this kind of recommendation has upset many people in the community. According to athletic director Joel Maturi, "this is hard on everyone." Like Garland, Maturi tries to paint a picture that there is no other choice. "We don't have the money to add women's sports. Something had to be cut. We're trying to get people to understand and be empathetic and not pit one sport against another," Maturi told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Pitting athletes and teams against each other is EXACTLY what the Miami president has done. "It's a little like cancer," said Miami wrestling coach Chuck Angello. "Every day, you know you are alive, but you are dying a little more. You don't add by subtracting. They are really discriminating against men."

Some other proposals on campus have suggested seeking to get the entire MAC to cut these sports, spreading the cancer that Angello talks about to other campuses. The Miami decision is expected to put pressure on other universities in the conference to consider such a drastic and devastating decision.

What is worse is that wrestling is a major part of the sports culture in Ohio, which has more high school wrestling teams and wrestlers than any state in the nation except California. This decision ignores both interest and tradition... in the name of expediency.

NCAA BOSS CEDRIC DEMPSEY BLASTS THE USE OF LAW SUITS WITHIN HIGHER EDUCATION

In his State of the Association address to the membership at the 1999 NCAA Convention recently, NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey made the following powerful statement:

* "Most disturbing of all is the race to litigate, when one special-interest group or another disagrees with the way in which higher education regulates its athletic programs."

Law suits against the NCAA have been escalating, with some recent landmark cases concerning restricted earnings coaches and sports equipment. However, the NCAA is also embroiled in a very serious Title IX case which has gone all the way to the Supreme Court.

The use of law suits has been a favorite weapon for the special-interest groups pursuing the use of proportionality gender quotas on campuses. Individual colleges have been under the gun from these suits for many years. Now the NCAA is beginning to taste the poison that many member institutions have already been force-fed. As Dempsey told the NCAA Convention:

* "These legal challenges are about much more than money. In my estimation, they call into question the ability of higher education to regulate its intercollegiate athletics programs through an organization like the NCAA."

TITLE IX LAW SUITS CONTINUE TO MULTIPLY AT A DIZZYING PACE AROUND THE NATION

You almost have to be a legal expert to keep track of all the law suits and legal actions concerning Title IX today. A glance at your local newspaper will uncover new litigation concerning the issue on a regular basis. It would be easy to miss the signifigance of many of these cases without paying close attention.

In an effort to help others "keep an eye on the ball," we give a short summary of some recent Title-IX related legal activities.

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS HEARING TWO IMPORTANT TITLE IX CASES THIS YEAR

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing two cases involving Title IX. Although the outcome of either case may not dramatically affect the way the law is interpreted regarding college sports, both show how Title IX can be used many ways to get into court.

The first, Davis vs. Monroe County Board of Directors, has nothing to do with sports at all. It is a sexual harrassment case in which a fifth-grade girl, who was reportedly bothered by a boy in her class, brought suit against the school under Title IX. This case opens all kinds of questions about the responsibility of schools concerning the behavior of their students.

Everyone seems to think that Title IX is just about sports. In reality, the law applies to all segments of education. The fact that a non-sports Title IX case has reached the high court could be a good thing for those who would like to see the current interpretation of the law changed. When people realize how much this law could change all aspects of education - including female dominated programs like nursing, dance, theater, etc., perhaps the public will better understand this complex issue.

The second case is sports-related, Smith vs. the NCAA. This case is about Renee Smith, a volleyball player from St. Bonaventure Univ. in New York, who graduated early and went on to graduate school. She wanted to play volleyball at two other universities, Hofstra and the Univ. of Pittsburgh. An NCAA rule states that you may only compete as a graduate student at the same university that you were an undergraduate. Smith applied for a waiver from this rule, and when she was denied, claimed that she was discriminated against because of her sex.

What makes this case important is that Smith claims that Title IX applies to the NCAA directly because it collects dues from member schools that receive federal money. The NCAA claims that Title IX does not apply, since it does not receive federal support. According to the Associated Press, "if the court allows her to continue her lawsuit, the NCAA could be on the hook in a host of other discrimination lawsuits based on race or disability, both sides have said."

MIAMI OF OHIO WRESTLERS SUE TO PROTECT THEIR SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING

Only a few days before Miami of Ohio President James Garland announced his proposal to cut four men's sports teams including wrestling, members of the wrestling team went to court to sue the university to protect their scholarships and financial aid.

On January 19, the plaintiffs (Adam Anderson, et. al.) filed against Miami University in Butler County court. They received a temporary restraining order from Judge Michael Sage preventing the university from forcing scholarship wrestlers to sign a letter from athletic director Joseph Maturi. The letter would cause the athletes to give up their right to their scholarships in the event the sport was dropped. It further would limit each athlete and waive other agreements. If the athletes refused to sign the letter, they would not get their scholarship and would have been dropped from their classes.

The athletes believe the university had agreed to fund the wrestling program throughout their undergraduate years when they agreed to attend Miami University. Task Force member Lou Goldstein, who is an expert on Title IX litigation, assisted the wrestlers in this case.

According to the university, the entire situation was a misunderstanding. They believed that the letter only covered "additional aid or first time aid" provided for the second semester, and did not mean that the athletes would lose their scholarships.

"(The letter) has nothing to do with Title IX. It has to do with finances," said athletic director Joel Maturi to the Cincinnati Post. However, anybody who has paid attention to Miami of Ohio's athletic department understands that Title IX is the major issue that is causing financial problems to the athletic budget.

Regardless of the intent of the letter, the wrestlers felt the need to go to court to protect their aid and a judge felt the case warrented a restraining order. A few days later, these same athletes learned that the university president intends to drop the program at the end of the season. Certainly, this case is just getting started, as far as the wrestlers are concerned.

CALIFORNIA N.O.W. FILES TITLE IX COMPLAINT AGAINST BOTH USC AND UCLA

In mid December, the California National Organization of Women (NOW) initiated Title IX discrimination complaints against two major universities in the state, the Univ. of Southern California (USC) and the Univ. of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

The complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the regulatory agency which handles Title IX enforcement. California NOW has requested that the OCR conduct in-depth investigations of both universities. California NOW has also demanded that UCLA upgrade women's lacrosse and crew to varsity status, and that USC add women's softball and lacrosse varsity teams.

California NOW is the same group that filed Title IX complaints against the state university system in California. The out-of-court settlement in that case, known as the "consent decree," spells out specific gender quotas for the state colleges. This has affected universities with wrestling programs, including the Cal-State Bakersfield's wrestlers, who have filed their own lawsuit to save the program.

FORMER OREGON STATE SOFTBALL COACH SETTLES FOR $1.09 MILLION IN TITLE IX SUIT

A rather disturbing Title IX case reached its conclusion on January 14, when Oregon State Univ. settled out of court with a former women's softball coach to the tune of a $1.09 million settlement.

Vickie Dugan, who was fired as the interim softball coach after coaching the Beavers between 1988-94, claimed that she was paid less than male coaches in similar jobs and that the department had violated her first-amendment rights by retaliating against her for speaking out about gender equity. She also claimed that she was not given the resources needed to develop the program.

In November 1997, an all-woman jury awarded Dugan $1.275 million. The school appealed, and in July 1998, a U.S. district judge lowered the damages to $623,000, in addition to $460,000 in legal fees. The recent out-of-court settlement closed the door on the case, which will be paid off by the state's Risk Management Division, not the athletic department.

It seems that Dugan's performance on the job was not considered a major factor in this legal case. Her softball teams earned a 64-201 record (.242 winning percentage). Her Pac-10 Conference record was even worse, 9-112 (.074 winning percentage). The team's record during her final season at Oregon State was a perfect 0-24.

Dugan claimed this as a victory for women's athletics in an interview with the Associated Press. "The whole point was to send a message. It shows that if women or girls want to go into coaching, they can earn enough to make it a career - that it isn't just a profession for men."

Or maybe, just maybe, the university wanted to make a change in the program, with a goal of creating a better team with a different coach. Just maybe?