Title IX, a federal statute created in 1972 to promote equal opportunities in collegiate athletics for men and women, remains controversial 30 years after its inception. The National Wrestling Coaches Association filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education last Wednesday, maintaining that Title IX discriminates against men's lower-tiered sports such as wrestling.
To achieve equity in funding for men's and women's teams, many colleges have dropped men's varsity sports instead of instating new women's teams.
Michael Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, said in a University Wire report that 350 men's sports teams -- 90 track and field, 40 wrestling and 53 golf -- have been discontinued as a result of Title IX.
"I think it's absolutely wrong to take away opportunities from anyone in lieu of providing opportunities for others, which is why we don't do that at Dartmouth," said Josie Harper, senior associate for intercollegiate programs.
Dartmouth no longer has a wrestling team, but the program's termination over 20 years ago did not result from a need to comply with Title IX regulations, as has been the case with colleges involved in the lawsuit.
Marquette University's wrestling team, for example, was dropped in 2001, an outcome of its failure to meet equity guidelines under Title IX.
"Title IX is the one thing hanging out there that is easy to point a finger at," Harper said. At many schools protesting the Title IX regulations, "they haven't been spending less on men's sports ... but have been spending much more on men's sports like basketball and football that they could be spending towards women's sports. So other men's sports are being sold a bill of goods that's not true."
In order to establish equitable athletic opportunities for men and women at Dartmouth in terms of numbers and quality, the women's softball and volleyball teams here were elevated from club to varsity status in the early 1990s. Now Dartmouth boasts 34 varsity teams: 16 men's, 16 women's and two coed programs.
The Dartmouth Athletic Department releases an annual Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act Report for the NCAA Gender Equity Survey that outlines how funds for sports were allocated to teams in the previous year. The 2000-2001 report showed that 53.8 percent of the total operating expenses went to men's teams and 46.2 percent to women's teams. Men's teams generated 67.5 percent of revenue through sports and women's 32.5 percent.
Dartmouth's Director of Athletics, Richard Jaeger, said, "We've been close in complying with the standards of Title IX. We come out looking very strong, but it's an ongoing challenge to make sure everything is fair."
The statistics in the EADA Report demonstrate how funds are apportioned between men and women's teams. Disparities in funding between comparable teams are only substantial for reasons such as team trips and uniform and equipment expenses.
In regard to equitably distributing funds, Ricky Sowell, coach of the men's lacrosse team, said, "You can't argue about what they're doing because it's the right thing to do. There's more and more women playing, and they need to get their fair share of resources and commitment."
Last year, the women's lacrosse team budget was significantly larger than the men's, due to a training trip they took to Australia.
Alumni donations to teams are also equally distributed to men's and women's teams. But because women were a recent addition to the school and thus to athletic participation here, women's alumni donations to sports don't yet parallel men's donations.
Bob Wilson, coach of the men's swimming team, feels that the funds are being fairly distributed between men and women and does not see any significant discrepancies in funding.
"All our teams feel under-funded," said Harper, but such is not a result of Title IX policies. "The pie you put in the oven for athletics -- when it comes out, there's not always enough slices."
