WASHINGTON, DC — Equal opportunity has been perverted to mean guaranteed equal outcomes for women college athletes, while equal opportunity for male college athletes means “go wrestle with yourself!” That’s how Nancy M. Pfotenhauer, president of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), reacted to a federal court ruling last week that the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) can not bring suit over Title IX because they are not, in the words of the judge, ‘proper parties to be asserting the claims they raise.’


The original intent of Title IX was to prohibit sex discrimination in federally-funded educational programs. It was never intended to function as a quota system. Instead, a policy of proportionality has been implemented by the U.S. Department of Education (DOEd) placing unrealistic demands on colleges and institutionalizing discrimination against men.


The proportionality test used by the DOEd’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requires colleges and universities to demonstrate that participation in collegiate sports is proportional by sex to their respective enrollments.


“It’s an arbitrary and unfair means of determining a school’s compliance with Title IX that results in ludicrous outcomes,” continued Pfotenhauer. “Not enough women to play lacrosse? Fine, no men’s team. Women don’t want to do the rugby scrum? Get rid of the men’s team.”


“We are all for ensuring equal opportunity for women everywhere. Yet, when equal opportunity becomes a quota system mandating equal outcomes these are the sorts of things that happen, and it cheapens and dishonors the legitimate athletic and academic accomplishments of women.”


“That a federal court could rule that the NCWA has no standing shows Title IX has reached Alice in Wonderland status. In 1997, the National Collegiate Athletic Association reported that, in less than a decade, more than 200 male teams and over 20,000 male athletes have been eliminated nationwide. Whereas, the number of female athletes increased by only 5,800– nearly four males dropped for each new female.”


The Independent Women’s Forum, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.