By Brian Coleman (March 7, 2002)

In 1972 Congress passed Title IX, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law intended to rid education of discrimination. Instead it became a despicable law especially when applied to sports at the college level. The bill had good intentions, but the quotas that have been applied have strayed from the intention. This bill states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." What an excellent idea. Wrong! This bill is applied to college sports in order to remedy the past when women did not participate on a large scale. It has turned full circle. Unfortunately the problem with Title IX is that it has improved women’s sports, but it has been at the expense of men’s sports.

Politicians seem to realize this, and will do nothing about this injustice, because they fear accusations of being sexist and losing the support of the naïve public. There is no question that the amount of opportunities for women has been increased, which is phenomenal, but it has been achieved by the means of cutting back opportunities for men. The teams that have taken the brunt of this astronomical impact are the male "non-revenue" teams, which are all sports other than football and basketball. It is understandable that these teams, except in extreme circumstances, are not dropped. The reason is that they will raise infinitely more money for a school and their athletics programs than the money put into them. Title IX’s formula seems simple: Any men’s sport that does not take in money or receive significant school publicity should be cut if there is a women’s sport that wishes to become a varsity sport.

While boys participation in high school athletics is still rising (400,000 more than only 15 years ago), the participation in collegiate athletics has dropped off (20,000 less males in collegiate sports in a five-year period), simply because there are not the opportunities anymore. Hundreds of men’s teams have been dropped by schools, as there are now nearly 600 more female collegiate sports teams in the United States than men’s. No, there are not more female athletes, but far more teams. This shows that not only are colleges forced to cut men’s programs because of monetary issues, but also to have an even ratio of men’s teams to women’s teams as compared to the ration of men to women at the school.

Women on average receive more money per scholarship. The most absurd and disturbing part of this is that some colleges have given more scholarships to a women’s sport than there are actually positions on the team! How is this fair to men? Title IX should just be retyped to say: "It is not fair to discriminate against women in collegiate sports, but it is fair to discriminate against men." It is obvious that is how it is being interpreted and enforced.

It is wonderful that women now have the athletic opportunities that once proved so elusive, but is it fair to put them ahead of men when Title IX clearly states that no person should be discriminated against on the basis of sex? It seems clear that the males are the ones being subjected to discrimination and denied benefits with a clear priority gearing towards female athletes. There should not be any qualms with the increased opportunities for women in collegiate athletics, but there should be with the way that these opportunities have been brought around. One has to wonder, is there really a gain for females if it denies males opportunities? Apparently so, because this is our current definition of equality.