Heading Towards a Finish Line Covered in Red Tape

President Bush’s inadequate changes to Title IX jeopardize the future of women’s sports.

By Claire Pogue, Georgetown University

When I told people from my hometown I would be playing Division I golf for Georgetown, the inevitable Q & A session that followed always produced the same results: “Wow, so you’re getting a full scholarship, right? How much money are they offering you?” I then have had to politely responded that no, I’m not receiving a dime in scholarship money from Georgetown for my golf prowess and only a few of my nine teammates received any scholarships at all.

This always seems to confuse my interrogators for two reasons: first of all, how could a school with such a demonstrated commitment to athletics – most notably men’s basketball – not afford to financially support more student-athletes? Secondly, why was I still willing to commit so much of my time to golf without any monetary benefit? Having this conversation innumerable times before arriving at school for my freshman year made me realize that, despite the advances made by Title IX legislation over the past thirty years, gender equality in collegiate athletics is still something we need to pay attention to.

Few can dispute the leaps by which women’s athletics has grown since the creation of Title IX in 1972. Prior to this legislation, less than 30,000 women participated in NCAA sports programs; by 2000, this number grew to nearly 151,000. Likewise, high school athletic programs benefited as well, with participation increasing from 294,000 in 1972 to nearly 2.8 million in 2000. The opportunities our generation has had are infinitely greater than those encountered by our mothers’ generation.

However, there is much work still left to be done: female Division I athletes receive only 41% of the opportunities to play intercollegiate sports, 43% of the total athletic scholarship dollars, 36% of the athletic operating budgets, and 32% of the dollars spent to recruit new athletes.

Not surprisingly, recent suggestions by the Bush administration to redraw Title IX standards induced quite a bit of panic amongst athletes, women’s groups and university administrators alike. In a bold and wrongheaded policy move last week, the Bush administration announced it would support a seemingly minor change to Title IX standards for universities. Bush’s proposed changes could ignite more drastic consequences than one would initially assume.

Numerical standards have never been included in the policies of Title IX. Instead, schools must be able to prove male and female athletes receive proportionately equal scholarships, equipment, facilities, etc. The proportions were derived from the total male to female ratio of students at each school. As a result, each school would determine its own ratio and funds allocation. For example, in order to conform to Title IX, Georgetown created a women’s golf program in 2000. I can directly thank the current format of Title IX for creating my opportunity to play for the Hoyas today.

Bush’s revision allows for an alternate method of determining the athletic offerings at a particular school. Instead of creating programs in relation to enrollment and athletic participation, Bush proposes a periodic online survey of female college students to determine where their interests lie and which needs are not being met as the basis for divvying up funds.

In my own case, under this system, women’s golf would most likely not have been created. College golf teams are very small (usually 6-10 members) compared to other sports such as soccer or track, and it remains difficult to attract much attention in a sport which still forbids female membership at some of its most heralded venues (most notably, Augusta National, home of the Masters.) If I had used Bush’s online survey system for indicating my interest in golf once I was a student at Georgetown, it would have taken years to develop a real team, long after I had already left the institution.

Moreover, for any Internet-addicted college student, the words “online survey” alone should raise a red flag. An online survey – which would be unmonitored and prone to inaccuracy – would be a regressive solution to the problems of Title IX enforcement. Unless there is a method to ensure that an online survey is both mandatory and taken seriously, it cannot provide a true representation of the needs of female athletes. Program development should not be sacrificed for the sake of expedience, which is ultimately the attempt of the Bush proposal.

“The e-mail survey suggested in the clarification [to Title IX] will not provide an adequate indicator of interest among young women to participate in college sports, nor does it encourage young women to participate – a failure that will likely stymie the growth of women’s athletics and could reverse the progress made over the last three decades,” said worried NCAA President Myles Brand, who was not consulted by the Department of Education when it drafted its proposal. Instead, “The department issued its clarification without benefit of public discussion and input.”

Unfortunately, even the NCAA President’s reaction may not save women’s athletics. By employing this new standard, the role of the federal government in the Title IX regulatory process further increases. (So much for President Bush’s interest in reducing federal government red tape.) For institutions funded either by the state or private sector, it seems an odd and even inappropriate role for the federal government to have. The nature of the American university system promotes a wide range of institutional options for prospective students: rural or urban, small or large, religious, liberal or conservative – these factors define both the schools themselves as well as the students who study there. To standardize each school’s evaluation of the “underrepresented” (women’s) attitudes about athletic opportunity would undermine the original intent of Title IX.

By implementing the online survey method of Title IX evaluation, Bush is providing an incomplete solution to the problem of gender equality. In order to gain support for new programs, athletic departments must look toward their future student-athletes rather than those currently attending school. Athletic programs take time, resources, and dedication to develop into successful ventures, as I can personally attest with my own experience as a student-athlete.

Title IX should be forward looking, to encourage female athletic participation in the future. Bush’s proposal offers the wrong solution. The obvious merits of women’s sports on the collegiate level are undisputed; as college students, we must not allow such an inadequate measure of our interests to dictate the future of women’s sports.

Claire Pogue is a sophomore at Georgetown University, majoring in International Politics and Russian/Eastern European Studies. She is a National Security intern at the Center for American Progress.

Illustration: Matt Bors

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