Nat'l student protests call Title IX cuts into question
By Molly Holden | November 14, 2006Dozens of James Madison University students recently protested Title IX regulations outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., after the university said these laws caused it to eliminate seven men's sports teams and three women's teams. Some, however, question the validity of this explanation. "[The cuts don't] have so much to do with money being poured into women's programs -- it has to do with the amount of money being spent on football and bigger programs," Dartmouth Director of Athletics Josie Harper said. Title IX, which was implemented in 1972, states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Dartmouth has never been forced to make cuts in its athletic programs, according to Harper. The College attempted to cut the men's and women's swimming and diving teams in 2002, but said it needed to do so because of overall budget reductions, not the impacts of Title IX. Many universities with larger athletic programs, unlike Dartmouth, tend to focus on one or two prime revenue sports like football, which leads universities to channel funds to those teams, Harper said. "The Ivy League offers more programs than the majority of other Division I programs in the country and runs the smallest budgets.
