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Title IX
TASK FORCE MEDIA NOTES
VOL. 1, NO. 9 (December 1, 1997)
This is part of a series of regular reports
to update, inform, educate and stimulate public discussion
THE NATIONAL COALITION FOR ATHLETICS EQUITY (NCAE) IS FORMED
Another new group has been formed in Washington, D.C., to battle
against the unintended consequences of Title IX. The National Coalition
for Athletic Equity (NCAE) was recently incorporated and has begun its
efforts to create change.
According to the mission statement of the NCAE:
l “The manner in which Title IX is now enforced is resulting in less,
not more, athletic opportunities for young Americans, girls as well as
boys. The drive for ‘proportionality’ on college campuses and in high
schools... is resulting in few gains for women and significant losses
for men.”
l “The NCAE is devoted to protecting opportunities for all people with
a love of sport, regardless of their gender. Athletics not only provides
a safe after-school harbor for millions of grade school and high school
children; it opens the door to higher education for thousands as
well...”
l “The goal of the NCAE is to restore Title IX to its original purpose:
to stop discrimination in sports. Period.”
The NCAE is working closely with another Washington organization, the
Independent Women’s Forum, to educate citizens and Congressional
leaders. Leading the efforts for the NCAE is its Executive Director,
Michael Copperthite, an experienced political campaign operative and
fundraiser. For more information on the NCAE, contact Copperthite at the
National Coalition for Athletics Equity, 1050 17th St., NW, Washington,
DC 20036, (202)496-1298 phone.
CHICAGO SUN TIMES REPORTS THAT “TITLE IX IS ON THE LINE...”
On Sunday, Nov. 16, Chicago Sun Times reporter Jennifer Jones wrote an
article entitled “Title IX is on the line.” We feature a few excerpts
from this article, which makes some good points about the problems with
proportionality:
l “Former Olympic swimmer Larry Barbiere’s two daughters swim
competitively, but his son plays only baseball. So, Northwestern
swimming coach Bob Groseth asked him, ‘Is your son just not a good
swimmer?’ ‘Yes, he’s a good swimmer,’ Barbiere said. ‘I just figure he’s
not going to have a place to swim when he gets to college.’
Barbiere wasn’t worried about the lack of pools at Div. I universities.
But he is worried Title IX will make non-revenue male sports such as
wrestling, volleyball and swimming obsolete on college campuses...”
l “A 1996 National Federation of High School Association study found
that in most states, high school girls outparticipated boys by a 3-to-2
ratio in activities such as music, drama and debate. Seperate studies
have found that men outparticipate women in intramural sports by a
4-to-1 ratio. ‘The state and federal bureau are stomping all over
schools for having more males than females participating in athletics -
but in other extracurricular activities where the disparity could be
worse, there doesn’t seem to be a concern,” said Leo Kocher, wrestling
coach at the University of Chicago.’
REACTION TO THE DROPPING OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL CONTINUES
The reaction against the decision of Boston University to drop its Div.
I-AA football team, without adding any new sports opportunities on its
campus, continues to appear in publications across the nation. Jerry
Izenberg, one of the nation’s top sports journalists, wrote an
outstanding column called “Who killed Boston U’s football team?” in the
Newark Star-Ledger. A few very enlightening excerpts follow:
l “They threw out the football team. They explained it was
unprofitable, that it could no longer be self-sustaining and it no
longer had a place on the Boston University campus when measured against
the school’s determination to be a model for the brave new world of
Title IX... And finally, they knew something that the kids who played
football for BU didn’t know. Back in early June, the National Women’s
Law Center filed sex discrimination complaints against 25 schools it
said didn’t offer women athletes a fair share of the scholarship money.
Boston University was one of those 25 schools...”
l “More important here, if BU operated out of Title IX pressure (the
gender equity legislation that can cut off federal funds for schools
found in non-compliance), then it did a total disservice to the
legislation.... What it does is simply exacerbate a politically correct
but logically misleading debate that pits men against women, boys
against girls and male coaches against female coaches...”
l “Until someone proves otherwise, (the football players) will continue
continue to believe that they are innocent casualities in a
misapplication of the Battle of Title IX. And if female athletes and
coaches (rather than bureaucrats) think about it, because they share the
same respect with competition, they might just agree with them.”
Boston University was also ripped by Gerry Callahan of Sports
Illustrated in a Point After column entitled “Death BU Not Proud.” The
decision to drop BU football has given many journalists an opportunity
to look beyond the rhetoric and see the problems caused by
proportionality.
BEWARE: PROPORTIONALITY IS COMING TO A HIGH SCHOOL NEAR YOU
For those who believe that Title IX is just a college problem, the news
out of Florida and other states is indicating that the push for
proportionality is coming to your neighborhood high schools. Athletic
directors in local schools, just like at our nation’s colleges, are now
being asked to count their male and female participants, and do whatever
it takes to make their numbers more equal. Unfortunately, just like in
colleges, this often lead to the cutting of male opportunities, rather
than an increase in female opportunities, to achieve a gender quota.
Joint Task Force to Protect Wrestling co-chairman Leo Kocher, in a
recent article in W.I.N. magazine, explains it this way. “The middle
schools and high schools in Florida found not in compliance were ordered
to immediately submit a plan to achieve proportionality... In Florida,
high school boys varsity opportunities are being eliminated on a huge
scale. This is occurring primarily through roster caps... where the
number of boys allowed to be on teams is being reduced in order to move
toward proportionality.”
Colleges for many years have been using roster caps as a way to change
the gender numbers in their sports programs. On the college level,
dropping programs often came first, and then caps were imposed on the
remaining programs. The high school trend in Florida seems to be using
caps on teams first, then following up by cutting programs. You should
be alarmed if your local high school begins putting limits on squad
sizes. The next step may be the elimination of boys programs, just like
at colleges.
WALL STREET JOURNAL RIPS OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER NORMA V. CANTU
Norma V. Cantu, the Education’s Department’s Assistant Secretary for
Civil Rights, has been credited with leading the federal government’s
push for proportionality in sports programs. The Wall Street Journal
calls Cantu to task in an editorial entitled “Above the Law” on Nov. 4.
Consider this:
“Moving on questionable interpretations of Title IX or the First or
14th amendments, Cantu teams have swooped down on schools and
universities many times more frequently than OCR representatives under
previous presidents. Her office spent more than two years studying Johns
Hopkins University’s athletic department. The university reports that
OCR interviewed head coaches and team captains for 27 sports three times
each. One OCR representative assailed school officials over the fact
that women’s basketballs were smaller than men’s; the investigator was
apparently unaware that smaller balls are the NCAA standard.”
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