Dear Mr. Dad: In one of your columns a month or so ago, you took a swipe at Title IX, which most people think has done a great job of bringing equity to college sports. You even called it “dangerous.” I don’t see what there is to complain about. Please explain.
A: Thank you for asking. You’re right: I did complain about Title IX and I did, indeed, refer to it as “dangerous.” And I stand by that. Here’s why.
Title IX passed in 1972, in an era when males outnumbered females on college campuses and when women’s collegiate sports barely existed. The idea was to ensure that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in… or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” You’ll notice that the text doesn’t mention sports; more on that in a minute.
As you suggest, Title IX produced some dramatic and very positive results in increasing opportunities for female athletes. Before Title IX, about 1 in 27 girls played sports; today, it’s about 10 times that many. Over the same period, the sex ratio of college students has also changed, going from more than 50% male in the early 1970s to nearly 60% female today. However, since, a greater percentage of males than females participate in athletics, Title IX’s insistence on “proportionality” (the idea that the percentage of male and female student athletes must be the same as the percentages of male and female students in the institution as a whole), has required institutions to cut men’s sports teams in order to achieve compliance. More than 400 college teams have been eliminated, according to athleticscholarships.net.
