Copyright 2002 The Chronicle Publishing Co.  

The San Francisco Chronicle
JUNE 16, 2002, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. D4; EDITORIALS

LENGTH: 1005 words

HEADLINE: EDITORIAL;

30th Anniversary of Title IX;

Uneven playing fields

BODY:
THIRTY YEARS ago, this nation made a commitment to provide equal opportunities for young women in education programs and activities.

The positive effects of that law are apparent on myriad playgrounds and grass fields where young girls build their skills and stamina in hopes of getting a scholarship to emulate their heroes Brandi Chastain in soccer, Marion Jones in track or Nicole Powell in basketball. Today, more than 150,000 women compete in college sports, a fivefold increase from 1972.

Yet the lofty vision of Title IX has yet to be fully realized. The entrenched inequalities between men's and women's sports, at both the high school and college levels, continue to be the subject of controversy and lawsuits. And a recent study by the Washington-based National Women's Law Center showed the extent to which vocational education remains segregated along gender lines. The center has filed legal petitions alleging that schools across the country are not complying with Title IX, the 1972 law that banned sex discrimination by schools that receive federal funds.

The anniversary comes at a time when the very foundations of Title IX are under attack, both in the courts of law and court of public opinion. A group of college wrestlers and coaches has challenged the enforcement of Title IX in a lawsuit that blames the law for the demise of the sport.

It is disingenuous to blame the emergence of women's sports for the funding squeeze that has led some colleges to drop "minor" men's sports such as swimming, track, gymnastics -- and, most notably, wrestling.

Most administrators are unwilling to confront the most common source of financial woes in college athletics: the lavish spending on football and men's basketball.

One of the myths of intercollegiate athletics is that football and basketball -- the "revenue sports" -- help subsidize other sports. Yet the packed stadiums, glitzy sponsorships and television contracts are merely a mirage of prosperity. That money is quickly evaporated by the pampering of coaches and players with first-class travel and state-of-the-art facilities. A 1999 study showed that 58 percent of major-college football programs did not pay for themselves. In fact, in the top Division I-A, the average annual deficit for football programs was $1 million.

Examples of football excesses abound. The University of Texas once spent $120,000 to repanel its coach's office in mahogany, Florida State spent $60,000 for a practice-field tower and almost all big-time programs charter jets for road trips and house their players in hotels the night before home games. Most of these extravagances are bankrolled with private donations, of course, but the pressure on alumns to channel their contributions toward football -- while other programs are being scrapped -- raises questions about universities' priorities.

Meanwhile, though women account for 53 percent of the students at Division I schools, women's athletic programs receive only 36 percent of the sports operating budgets and 32 percent of the money spent on player recruitment. During a recent five-year span, spending on big-time men's programs was growing at triple the rate of those for women, a General Accounting Office study found.

Another myth of Title IX is that it is a "quota bill." In truth, numerical equality in participation or spending is only one of three tests for Title IX compliance -- and a school needs to meet just one. A school could fulfill its Title IX obligation by showing that it expanded athletic opportunities for women or by demonstrating that its athletics program "accommodates the interests and abilities" of women.

"It's one of the most lenient standards I've ever seen" in civil-rights law, said Marcia Greenberger, a founder of the Women's Law Center.

It remains to be seen whether the Bush administration will defend Title IX with any vigor. The administration recently asked a federal judge to dismiss the wrestlers' lawsuit on procedural grounds while hinting, ominously, that the Department of Education may soon attempt to revise the guidelines.

At the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia two years ago, one of the more popular buttons among delegates declared, "W is for Women."

It would be hard to come up with a more pro-women stand than to support a law that for three decades has given girls equal opportunities in competitive athletics -- activities that produce demonstrable increases in academic success, health, personal skills and self-esteem.

The anniversary of Title IX is an occasion for celebration, and reaffirmation of this nation's commitment to equality.

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DISCRIMINATION PERSISTS

Young women who want to participate in athletics still encounter deeply entrenched stereotypes, barriers and inequalities. Among the recently revealed examples:

-- California: In the state's 108 community colleges, where women account for 56.2 percent of full-time students, women's sports receive just 35 percent of the athletics budget.

-- Colorado: Women who wanted to join the University of Colorado's elite cheerleading squad were subject to a 120-pound limit; there was no weight restriction on male participants.

-- Georgia: More than 86 percent of the legislative grants for stadiums, lighting and equipment at public schools were directed to projects where the primary beneficiaries were boys.

-- Michigan: A federal court found that girls' high-school sports were being shortchanged by a system that scheduled their seasons at unorthodox times. Michigan girls were thus denied opportunities to compete in interstate tournaments and to play before college scouts.

-- Pennsylvania: In Duquesne, which spends more on football than maintaining its school buildings, girls' sports receive a dime for every dollar spent on boys' sports. In Brownsville, which offers only basketball to girls, girls' sports get a nickel for every dollar.

Source: ESRI, National Women's Law Center



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