Copyright 2002 Denver Publishing Company  
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
October 23, 2002 Wednesday Final Edition
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 5C

LENGTH: 756 words

HEADLINE: TITLE IX FUELS DEBATE AT TOWN HALL MEETING

BYLINE: Jody Berger, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS

BODY:
Whatever the problem, it seems, blame Title IX.

Colleges dropping wrestling teams? Runaway athletic budgets? Fewer American medalists at future Olympics?

Real or imagined, all problems somehow are connected to one simple civil rights law, or at least that was one message from the town hall meeting that took place Tuesday at Cheyenne Mountain Resort.

Signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972, Title IX outlaws discrimination in federally funded education. Thirty years later, there still is some confusion on what that means, especially with regard to school sports.

In an attempt to clear up the issue, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige created a 15-member Commission on Opportunity in Athletics in June. He ordered the commission to hold four public hearings throughout the fall and report back to him with recommendations by the end of January.

At its third meeting, held in Colorado Springs, the commission heard testimony from the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee and representatives from three Olympic sports.

Lloyd Ward, CEO of the USOC, did not speak to the commission but commented after his colleagues spoke. Ward is under fire for his membership in Augusta National Golf Club, which excludes women. He has made public his commitment to breaking down that policy from the inside, although he again refused to discuss it Tuesday.

"The intended consequences of Title IX have been terrific," he said. "But the unintended consequences are what now need to be addressed."

Universities drop men's programs in minor sports to balance the numbers between genders, the Olympic representatives argued. This, in turn, they said, limits the potential talent pool for Olympic teams.

"If the current trend of program elimination continues, we will suffer the consequences - the absence of American athletes on the podium in future Olympic Games," USOC president Marty Mankamyer said.

While few people would campaign for fewer American medals, several panelists said this was not a university issue.

"A college cannot be all things to all people," said George Shur, an attorney for Northern Illinois University.

"A university's mission does not include furnishing athletes to Olympic teams."

A school's mission is to provide educational opportunities, and the law requires that girls and boys, men and women have equal access to those opportunities.

No one at the meeting questioned the intent of Title IX, only how to enforce it.

Representatives of men's Olympic teams argued that aggressive enforcement of the law has pushed it beyond its initial intent. More than one speaker cited reverse discrimination.

M. Diane Murphy, athletic director of the University of Denver, disagreed with that idea and offered figures to prove her point.

"Yes, the number of wrestling, gymnastic and tennis programs have declined," she said, "But the bottom line is that men still enjoy 58 percent of all participation and scholarship opportunities. Only 42 percent go to women."

Peggy Bradley-Doppes, the athletic director at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, went one step further.

"Title IX is not the problem. Enforcement is the solution," she said.

Before taking the top job at UNC-W, Bradley-Doppes was the senior women's administrator at the University of Michigan. While she was in Ann Arbor, Michigan added men's and women's sports while coming into compliance with Title IX.

The athletic department did it, she said, by making a commitment to gender equity and then reviewing the entire athletic budget to find ways to pay for it.

Administrators at Michigan questioned everything from the price of media guides to travel budgets and the coffee in their own offices. Ultimately, they were able to trim enough fat to provide more women's opportunities without eliminating men's.

Schools that cut men's programs and blame Title IX, she said, are not trying hard enough. "Title IX is not the reason. A lack of leadership is," Bradley-Doppes said.

She advised holding athletic directors accountable.

If schools choose to drop a program, she suggested, athletic directors should have to justify the move in writing.

More often than not, the reason probably would be financial.

As schools spend more and more on facilities, recruiting and coaching salaries, especially in football and basketball, it becomes more and more difficult to fund the same number of teams.

And the commission, which can only offer non-binding recommendations, can hardly create revenue to solve the problem.

LOAD-DATE: October 26, 2002