Title IX

Taking a break from my recent NBA Draft theme I have decided to take a shot at Title IX. For a general overview of what Title IX is, I'm probably the wrong person to ask. But I'll give it a shot. Title IX legislature, as it applies to amateur athletics, saysthat women can not be discrimated against. Academic institutions have to show that the numbers of participation are proportionate with the gender breakdown of that school. The only way around this is to show that their is lack of interest in the under represented sex, and therefore no need to provide opportunities.

My main question when it comes to Title IX is, Does it really provide more opportunities for women's sports, or does it take them away from men? I repeatedly see schools dropping men's sports in favor of women's sports. Some of the more popularly eradicated men's programs are volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics. Some of the more popularly added women's programs are soccer and crew, sports that provide large rosters, to help even out the male to female ratio. I recently read an article about the Northwestern University Women's Lacrosse team and their national championship win after only four seasons of existence. I later learned that two of their players, a set of twins named Ashley and Courtney Koester, had never picked up a lacrosse stick until the day they began playing for the NU varsity program. How is it truly fair to arbitrarily add women's sports that recruit girls on campus who have no experience, when their are a number of men who are turned away from schools after their lifelong dream of playing collegiate sports is denied when their sport is cut from the programs so the school can meet federal regulations.

Is the point of college sports to randomly decide that women deserve to play for no other reason than that they are women? I was under the assumption that the point of college sports was to award those who had worked hard with the opportunity to continue their careers while attending college.

I understand that my view isn't politically correct. But anyone who knows me, knows that I have an appreciation for some of the less popular sports in America and I don't understand why the men who play these sports are left out in the cold, while the women who never played their sports before are given scholarship opportunities in their place. Title IX is not a pro-women's measure, even though its taken on that quality over time. It's supposed to be an equality measure. That should mean that people are treated fairly, not that women get all the opportunities.