Scrapbook Item 10: Title IX's Effect on Majority and Minority within Sports

Link to this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/sports/02gender.html?_r=1

In class on November 22, 2011, we discussed Title IX and all of the replications that go into making this a law that all sport programs should follow. Many believe that Title IX only helps girls and women's teams at different levels but it can also help boys and men's teams as well because it does not ever specify a specific gender within the law. The main point is that there needs to equitable opportunities for both male and female athletes of all ages. In the article above, it talks about how the University of Delaware was being discriminatory against their varsity male track team in getting rid of it. Many universities have been having to move some of their male varsity squads down to a club level and bringing up the female club level sports up to a varsity level standard. Russlynn H. Ali, who is the assistant education secretary, head of the civil rights office stated, "Title IX protects against sex discrimination,” Ali said. “Traditionally, the underrepresented sex in institutions of higher education has been women. That is changing.” Many people do not realize the change in majority and minority of male and female within university walls because no one wants to believe it but times are changing and society is going to start having a reality check and accepting it.

In Coakley's text on pages 234-239, it discusses Title IX and if such a law can bring equitable status to sports between male and female athletes. Athletes have gone through a lot of stress and tragedy trying to get up to an equitable relationship but it is still not at that status and the law is coming up on its 40 year anniversary of being in place. Just like the issues with race and ethnicity in sport, the minority in gender for athletes is in effect as well. Even though it is changing to some degree on who is the minority and who is the majority, it still relates that there is no equitable feeling between the way the programs should be treated. Due to Title IX, sports have been getting cut left and right from varsity level down to club and it is not fair to a lot of athletes that are on scholarship to that particular university of choice. Title IX has a lot of loop holes that need to be fixed because many universities are not in compliance with it because they have figured out how to get around certain parts of the law.

I believe that athletics needs to be at an equitable stand point for all who are participating. It is not fair that sports are getting cut from a varsity level because universities know they will not be able to be at standard due to their funding for sports such as baseball, football, basketball, etc. It is not fair to all of the athletes especially ones that are on scholarship at a specific university because they are missing out on participating in a dream because a university is being stingy with the funding they receive from the government. Females were the minority at the college level for so long and now it is finally changing but it is not fair to give males the same treatment that female athletes had to go through for so long. If people would just take a step back and look at the large picture for equitable treatment maybe things would get changed faster but that will not happen until people get off of their high horses and start actually paying attention to the reality right in front of them.