And, I’d bet most readers join me in hoping this works! From USA Today:
NCAA President Myles Brand has a message for member institutions: Don’t blame Title IX.Brand expects some schools to drop men’s teams in coming months because of the economic downturn. He is urging them in advance to cite the economy, not the law that bans sex discrimination at schools receiving federal funds.
“My expectation is that over the next year or two we are going to see more” cuts of men’s teams, Brand said Wednesday in a telephone interview, “and so I am trying, frankly, to pre-empt the argument against Title IX, an unfair argument, I believe, and dissuade universities from going public with this approach.”
Brand mentioned James Madison and Rutgers, schools that cut teams in 2006-07, and Delaware, where the possibility of cuts has been discussed in the Wilmington paper, as examples. Delaware athletics director Edgar Johnson could not be reached.
“I think they need to be honest about it,” Brand said. “Any cuts at this point in sports are certainly going to be tied to financial pressures.” …
Via the Title IX Blog, where Erin Buzuvis notes: “The regulations appropriately and fairly operate to protect whichever sex has proportionately fewer opportunities to begin with (usually women) from taking the hit.”
–Ann Bartow
