Title IX Reformers Get Another Boost

Getting on board with the Title IX reformers last week were John Naber, Peter Vidmar, Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, and actor Billy Baldwin. Catch up here.

This week it's Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Barr and his supporters are telling the government to stop wiping out men's sports with their descriminatory quota system (a.k.a. Title IX).

Here's what some of the recent signers are saying (I'll leave out most of the "Barr for President" comments):

5662. Chas I hope this goes thorugh. Common sense hasn't been seen on Capitol Hill in a while.

5619. Eva Kosinski When political correctness swings the pendulum past equality and into reverse discrimination, it's time to rewrite. I'll support Barr -- he'll avoid making political correctness a national epidemic.

5611. Michael Patry Reform Title IX today!

5607. Erik Lee Anybody else tired yet of reverse discrimination?

5595. Todd Singer The legislation in its current form has done far more harm than good.

5582. Jeffrey Lia This is truly a form of discrimination. Sure, title IX is acting with good intent, but is certainly going about achieving the intended goals the wrong way. There is no freedom in being told you can't participate in a sport regardless of the reason. This actually was a big problem at my University several years ago where the Male:Female ratio was something like 4:1, though many male sports were being cut back and female sports were gaining equal funding though there were no females who participated! It's a shame. Using the argument "the men have it so therefore the woman should to" is a cop out. When I was growing up and I wanted something that a friend had, my parents told me to earn it!

5565. Bob Booth End the discrimination.

5560. Becki Wrenn This seems like such a no brainer that there shouldn't have to be a petition.

5526. Cary Croft It is time for a change. It was a good rule 36 years ago, but much like affirminative action, it is no longer needed

5493. CHRISTOPHER ROBERTS title IX is another flawed government intervention!

5479. Eric Denison It never should have come to this, but the Law of Unintended Consequences always seems to bite Congress in the butt.

5473. Gerald J. Chimennti Title IX should be repealed entirely. Colleges should be free to decide what sports teams they want to offer regardless of gender. Propsective students will either support these institutions or spend their college funds elsewhere.

5440. Edward Gribben, Jr. Title IX reform is long overdue. Like many laws, it had good intentions, but has poor results.

5417. A. Hinch Title IX is ridiculous--SHAME ON THE ACLU and the other far left organizations that prepared and perpetuated this policy!

Read the petition here.

Sign the petition here.

See who signed here.

Here's the latest press release from the College Sports Council:

Bob Barr Signs Petition for Academic Sports Freedom

Presidential Candidate Urges Title IX Reform

Washington, D.C., Aug. 13, 2008 – Former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s Presidential candidate, has signed the College Sports Council’s petition calling for “straightforward and common-sense” reform of Title IX. On the 36th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, the CSC launched an online petition calling for reform of the unfair and inflexible regulations that govern Title IX.

“I am pleased to join the thousands of Americans including athletes, coaches, and parents and Olympic Greats who are calling for an end to Title IX’s gender quota system that has devastated so many of our collegiate sports programs,” said Congressman Barr.

Passed by Congress in 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments 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.”

In 1979, the Carter Administration promulgated a three-point test of an institution’s compliance with Title IX. However, in order to avoid litigation, institutions have relied on the first prong, known as “proportionality.” In order to comply with the proportionality standard, the gender ratio of a school’s undergraduate student enrollment must mirror the gender ratio of the total number of athletes on its varsity sports. In turn, this has forced colleges and universities to either cut men’s teams or shrink their roster size in order to comply.

The Olympic sports of track and field, swimming, wrestling, and gymnastics have suffered the loss of hundreds of their collegiate teams since the passage of Title IX. These sports traditionally rank among the top medal earners for the US during the summer Olympics.

But if the Department of Education would carve a safe harbor for schools that would like to use online surveys to gauge student interest in athletics – one of the reforms called for in the petition – colleges and universities would be freed from complying with a de-facto quota system that has led to the elimination of so many men’s programs.

“As we watch our athletes compete in the Olympic games in Beijing, we can be proud not only of their tremendous athletic performances, but also of the uniquely American collegiate sports system that developed many of our Olympic competitors. It is a tragedy to see so many collegiate men’s teams that have produced Olympians for the US eliminated, like UCLA gymnastics and swimming, University of Miami diving, and Fresno State wrestling,” said Congressman Barr.

CSC President, Leo Kocher said, "Title IX reform is a big issue in the state of Georgia. There are tens of thousands of school age wrestlers in Congressman Barr's home state - but not a single NCAA wrestling program. In this case, the gender quota advocates in Washington DC, who have fought all reasonable measures to reform Title IX’s proportionality standard, are blocking the legitimate interests of the tax paying parents in Georgia. If the state’s schools were simply allowed to use online surveys to measure actual interest, they would be able to add wrestling programs without fear of running afoul of the law."

Recently the Georgia state House (House Resolution 246) and Senate (Senate Resolution 397) adopted resolutions urging the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and its member institutions to establish programs for intercollegiate wrestling.

As of earlier this week, the petition has drawn almost 4,900 signatures. The petition can be located online at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/csc2008/petition.html

The College Sports Council is a national coalition of coaches, parents, athletes, and alumni devoted to the preservation and promotion of the student athlete experience.