Panelists Debate Effectiveness of Title IX Law

Four collegiate athletics experts debated the best way to measure and enforce gender equality during a panel discussion on the impact of Title IX on women’s athletics on Friday.

The session, co-sponsored by the Department of Athletics and the Ann Radcliffe Trust, was the last of a four-part series celebrating the sesquicentennial of intercollegiate athletics. The first intercollegiate match was a two-mile boat race between Harvard and Yale on August 3, 1852.

Before an audience of about 75 students, coaches and administrators at the Business School’s Spangler Hall Auditorium, panelists discussed the advance of women’s sports to the potential detriment of “minor men’s sports,” such as wrestling and swimming, and the “extravagance” of sports like football and men’s basketball.

Mike Moyer, executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, argued that the policy has had unfortunate—if unintended—effects on all college sports.

Moyer said that he and his organization support women’s sports and Title IX but that the law has forced colleges to restrict roster sizes on men’s teams or eliminate teams entirely.

He argued that the current state of college athletics—particularly the widespread elimination of wrestling, swimming and track and field squads—has potential implications for the United States’ global standing.

“The intent of Title IX is to create opportunities, not destroy them,” Moyer said.

Jeff Orleans, executive director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents, compared blaming Title IX for the elimination of teams to blaming the IRS for having to pay taxes. In fact, Orleans said, it is the administrations of the universities cutting teams are responsible for the cuts.

The solution is to more equitably distribute money in athletic departments, encourage shorter seasons and “reduce the extravagance of football,” he said.

Several of the panelists said Friday that the resources devoted to college football have reached unreasonably high proportions.

“The real enemy here is football,” said USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan who, like Moyer, warned that the elimination of teams poses “a danger to our Olympic future.”

But Title IX is not to blame for the reductions, Brennan said. “Slashing and burning minor men’s sports and then blaming the law of the land—it’s stunning.”

Though Brennan said she loves college football, she argued that the sport has muscled its way into the broader debate about distribution of funds, defining the dialogue in terms of men, women and football.

“We don’t have three genders,” Brennan said. “We have two.”

Friday’s discussion also focused on the advances in women’s athletics that Title IX has already inspired as well as the gaps it has yet to bridge.

Title IX, a provision of the Education Amendments of 1972, has increased opportunities for women to participate in athletics, but there are still not enough women coaches or athletic directors, said Executive Director of the Women’s Sports Foundation Donna Lopiano.

Orleans said that there remains a problem with enforcing the stipulations of Title IX.

“There is not enough leadership, not enough good will, not enough courage in enforcing the standard that we have,” Orleans said.

Orleans said that a numerical standard—insisting that athletic participation be proportional to the gender balance of undergraduates—is necessary for determining equality.

The eight Ivy League universities are all in compliance with Title IX, he added later, if only because they offer more than ample opportunities.

“We may be at a point where there are no more sports left to offer,” Orleans said.

According to Athletic Director Robert L. Scalise, who opened the panel, Harvard boasts 20 women’s varsity teams in which more than 600 undergraduates participate.

Yesterday’s panel brought to a close the discussion series devoted to the 150th anniversary of intercollegiate athletics.

The first three events were held in September, November and February and covered such topics as a historical perspective of the Ivy League and its coverage by the national media, the current role of intercollegiate athletics on college campuses and Harvard’s ability to compete in major Division I athletics.

—Staff writer David B. Rochelson can be reached at rochels@fas.harvard.edu.