Title IX

             In April, the US Supreme Court let stand a ruling that strengthens a controversial interpretation of Title IX, the 1972 legislation that denies federal funding to universities that discriminate based on sex in scholastic sports.
             The newest interpretation makes it necessary for universities to have strict parity between men's and women's sports, or more precisely, the number of men and women athletes must mirror the ratio of men to women in the student body.
             In the court case, several female students sued Brown University when it cut two women's sports teams in 1991. At the time of the suit, Brown's overall enrollment was 51 percent female. Budget cuts left the school with 14 varsity sports for men and 14 for women, but only 38 percent of all varsity athletes were female. Brown's lawyers argued that the disparity reflected a difference of interest, not discrimination.
             Title IX opponents, such as groups of US college officials and men's sport associations, say that boys simply like sports more than girls. Strict parity, these groups say, is forcing the nation's colleges to cut men's teams or else increase the overall athletic budget--a near impossible feat in this era of cost cutting. Indeed, a recent study by the NCAA shows that between 1993 and 1996 hundreds of men's baseball, wrestling, hockey and other programs have been cut from the budgets of US colleges and universities.
             On the positive side, Title IX has changed fundamental patterns in American culture. Since 1972, women's participation in athletics has skyrocketed. In 1996, 44,000 women participated in Division I intercollegiate athletics, up 22 percent in four years. New female role models have inspired more female sports participation during childhood; 2.24 million girls participated in high school sports in 1994, up from 300,000 in 1971. As one Brown alumni wrote in response to this forum: "The lessons I learned on the ...

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Title IX. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 13:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/86900.html