In a world where equality has made tremendous strides over the
last 30 years, the world of sports remains tainted by
controversy.
The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, under the direction
of President George W. Bush, met on Wednesday and Thursday to
discuss several proposed changes to the 30-year-old Title IX
law.
Many women’s rights groups feared major overhauls of the
landmark ruling providing equal opportunity for males and females
in college athletics. Although the Commission decided on several
changes, the vote was sharply divided among those present on the
most significant changes.
As it stands, Title IX requires that the ratio of male to female
athletes be roughly the same as the ratio of the school’s
student body.
Devised by Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow, the new
proposal calls for a change in the ratio rules to make the ratio of
male to female athletes 50-50, regardless of the student body
makeup.
The proposal resulted in a 7-7 deadlock, which is enough to get
it included in the official report.
Although it takes an act of Congress to officially change the
law, Education Secretary Rod Paige will be forwarded a copy of
proceedings and consider the proposed changes.
UCLA is directly affected by the Title IX laws because any
university that receives federal funding falls under the scope of
this federal law. Aimed to eliminate gender discrimination in
athletics at universities that receive funding, coaches at UCLA
have many different views on the issue.
“I think it’s sad that you have to have laws to
determine justice (in athletics) and to ensure that there is no
prejudice,” gymnastics head coach Valorie Kondos-Field said.
“I know that (prejudice) first hand because men’s
gymnastics was dropped from UCLA athletics, and I think it is
really sad. It is one of the few sports that the smaller, shorter
male can participate in. The sport of (men”˜s) gymnastics is
going to be a dinosaur soon.”
Sports like football have been considered the biggest hindrance
in equity, because of the large number of scholarships available
compared to any female sport at UCLA. However, the football program
brings in millions of dollars in revenue each year, far more than
any other sport.
Thus far, the law has caused monumental change in the world of
women’s athletics. The number of girls participating in high
school sports rose from 294,000 to 2.8 million from 1971 to 2002,
an increase of over 900%.
The number of women in collegiate sports increased fivefold
during the same time frame. Critics of the new proposals fear that
tampering with the proportionality rule would only discourage women
from participating in athletics, because many universities would be
able to cut women’s sports for more profitable men’s
sports.
In the world of men’s sports, the law has nearly as big of
an impact. The National Wrestling Coaches Association has filed a
lawsuit because over 430 wrestling programs have been cut in the
last thirty years in colleges throughout the country.
“Whenever we have open sports tryouts, more men than women
always try out for the teams. In society, more male students than
women are interested in sports,” Kent State University
Athletic Director Laing Kennedy said in a statement.
But UCLA’s Kondos-Field sees it differently.
“I think that too many times the almighty dollar dictates
our decision making,” Kondos-Field said. “I think that
one area we are going in this country that is very bad is we keep
taking athletics away from our youth.”
The commission made several other suggestions to encourage
gender equity in college athletics, including a predetermined
number of roster spots that would count toward Title IX compliance.
According to Stanford athletic director Ted Leland, this would
prevent schools from putting one hundred girls on the crew team and
claiming that the crew team and the football team were equally
proportioned.
Another recommended change was to not count walk-ons or
non-traditional students in the total makeup of a university,
making it simpler for smaller schools and community colleges to
comply.
One member of the commission is U.S. soccer national team member
Julie Foudy, who advocates stricter enforcement of the existing
laws.
UCLA associate athletic director Betsy Stephenson has said that
she is uncertain if Title IX has had the desired outcome thirty
years later. Bruin squads that have been cut include the
aforementioned men’s gymnastics and men’s swimming
teams.
Although the women’s gymnastics team has been largely
successful over the past several years in winning three NCAA
championships, the relatively small number of girls is almost a
detriment to the University’s Title IX compliance. The team
has only 16 members, twelve of whom are on scholarship. Not that
the team couldn’t have more participants.
“There are teams that do have 18-22 (members) to help with
gender equity issues, but the coaching to student athlete
ration…it’s not effective,” Kondos Field said.
While football offers 85 student athletes the chance to
participate while on scholarship, the most scholarships offered for
a women’s sport is 20 by the rowing team. This leaves a
difference of 65 scholarships to be made up for women’s
athletics if the proportions were to be 50-50.
“I think it’s a sin to take away any opportunity
from our youth,” Kondos Field said. “Male or female,
revenue producing or non-revenue producing.”