"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

In a mind-boggling move, NCAA president Miles Brand recently urged NCAA institutions not to blame Title IX for any athletics cuts that they might be forced to make in the current economic downturn.
 
Thou doth protest too much, Miles.  If Title IX wasn't a factor, there wouldn't be much of a need to bring it up, now would there?
 
The truth is that Title IX is always a factor in athletic department program decisions.  Even if the impetus for a program cut is budgetary, Title IX must still be considered.  Why?  If a school cuts a women's team, it is impossible to pass two of Title IX's compliance tests--having a continuing history of expanding opportunities for women or meeting the interest and abilities of the underrepresented sex on campus.  That leaves proportionality (most school's preferred method of compliance, anyway) as the only route forward.  Again, cutting a women's team would make a school less proportional, so that's not an option. 
 
In other words, Title IX, at a minimum, guides what sports get cut.  By asking schools to gloss over this important fact, Brand is encouraging schools to mislead the public.
 
In this article Brand goes on to say that "Title IX is a factor because fairness is a factor."  Wait a second, so Brand does think Title IX is a factor?  You can't have it both ways.