Title IX

[Craig S.]

Since this weekend marks its 30th anniversary, I was just curious how people on here felt about Title IX - its goals, its accomplishments, whether or not it's needed and/or justified.

It's had a huge impact on women's college athletics, and it's obviously impacted men's sports too. Is that good or bad?

[poorme]

I guess the overall effect has been good, although I think some things could be adjusted to prevent the loss of all those "minor" men's sports like baseball, etc.

[SmedIndy]

Football is the 900 lb. gorilla. Believe it or not, it's a money loser at a lot of colleges, yet no one can touch it without a lot of kicking and screaming.

Solve that and you solve most of theTitle IX dilemma.

[gyb13]

What's title IX?

[Craig S.]

Originally posted by gyb13
What's title IX?

It's the NCAA legislation that strives to create gender equality in collegiate athletics.

It's the front-page story on ESPN, and the NCAA has a lot of info on their site:

http://www.ncaa.org/library/general/achieving_gender_equity/

The introduction and basics give a lot of info, although it's also a lot to read.

[Rajah]

I think that the spirit of the law is great. I don't like the way that schools try to get into compliance though. I think that UofI cut 2 men's sports while I was there, while adding only women's soccer. Plus, schools that aren't near a large body of water can't add Crew, which is the only womens sport that requires anywhere near as many scholarships as football. So you end up with a lot more women's teams than mens.

[WiredTiger]

It is the law of unintended consequences. Try to do something good and it only ends up killing men's minor sports.

Football is definitely the big problem. It has so many players that you have to field 5 women's teams just to keep up. Why not just exempt football and try to make all the other sports equal?

[sweaver]

Title IX has created opportunities in women's sports that would never have existed otherwise, and enabled a generation of women to grow up playing sports.

Still, it is too bad to close down some men's sports to promote women's sports.

[pwdennis]

Another attempt by government to dictate what the sports marketplace should do. I suppose the idea of equality for womens sports was laudable but the manner in which schools have tried to achieve compliance was an abortion. Many "minor" sports, particularly wrestling have been slashed, which will ultimately manifest itself in declining American competitiveness in some of these sports, particularly at the Olympic level - we may never see another Rulan Gardner.

The problem is two-fold:

At many schools football is the engine that drives the financial underpinning of athletic programs. Either football should be deleted from the equation or squad sizes of collegiate football teams should be limited to 45-60 players.

Alumni donations for female sports are very limited - its time for supporters of womens sports put their money where their mouths are. Let them make donations earmarked for womens sports and let's see the true level of interest it indicates

[soxfan121]

Title IX is an rousing success story. The number of women participating in sport has gone from 1 in 27 to 1 in 2.5. There are now legitiamte professional leagues for women's basketball and women's soccer. The overall health effects of participation in sports cannot be measured (but can be admired, right? :naughty: j/k)

And the arguments about how Title IX has forced the elimination of minor men's sports is a ton of chauvanist bullpucky. Title IX does not mandate "same" it mandates "equal". Read the piece by Susan Casey in the week's SI for more info.

Basically, men's basketball and football programs take 70% of the men's sports budget at most Division I schools. So the inadequate distribution of resources from the athletic department is to blame for the loss of some men's sports programs. If UCLA wanted to keep it's swimming and gymnastics programs, it could stop chartering planes for the men's football team, for example.

To be against Title IX is to be uninformed. Women's sport is just as important and neccessary to the development of young women as sport is to the development of young men.

Happy Birthday Title IX. And thanks for contributing to some of the most enduring memories of my sporting life. (The Women's World Cup victory in 2000? Team USA's Gold medals at the most recent Olympics? The UConn Women's Perfect Season?)

[calexpat]

Does Title IX take into account revenues? That is, do women's and men's sports have to be equally funded in terms of gross expenditures, or in terms of net expenditures? If it's gross rather than net expenditures, then it's grossly unfair.

[CpUltravox]

I thnk Title IX deals mainly with scholarships.

As a function of Title IX weekend on ESPN... ESPN2 is televising the first all-women's boxing card tonight.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by Craig S.
It's the NCAA legislation that strives to create gender equality in collegiate athletics.


Title IX is Federal Law, not NCAA. Requires all institutions of higher learning that receive any form of federal funding to sponsor as many women's activities as men's.

About the only schools who make money on athletics are the 1-A schools with good football and basketball programs.

[WiredTiger]

I think that the profits that Football and basketball teams make are probably overstated. I saw an article on MSU football (can't remember when or where so this is all hearsay) that broke down the expenses and income for the season. It ended up that the Football team spent more than they earned for the season. I would bet that a lot of programs are like that. Basketball might not be as bad because they have less expenses.

If I was running a college and wanted the best exposure for my money I would drop football and concentrate on being a great basketball power. It would make it much easier to fulfill Title IX and it would still provide the benefits of being a college sports power.

[sweaver]

Originally posted by WiredTiger
If I was running a college and wanted the best exposure for my money I would drop football and concentrate on being a great basketball power. It would make it much easier to fulfill Title IX and it would still provide the benefits of being a college sports power.
I agree, and many colleges have made that decision, or at least the decision to be I-AA in football and I-A in basketball. My college, small as it is, has discontinued the football program, although there has been talk lately of reviving it.

BTW, I edited Boomer for spelling, not content. Didn't change your message, Boom.

[Skip]

Originally posted by sweaver
BTW, I edited Boomer for spellingHey man, you're stepping on my turf now ... :p