The University of Delaware has eliminated low-profile men’s sports to comply with Title IX, the federal law that sought to ban discrimination against women but has had unanticipated adverse consequences on sports programs for men.
Delaware is now going further than just cutting a team to comply. It is eliminating the men’s track team because of concern that the university will not be able to maintain the precarious balance of male and female teams in the future.
We’re sorry about the track team, but we were glad that, when the New York Times reported on developments at Delaware, IWF’s Allison Kasic was one of the people asked to comment:
Still, men who claim discrimination under the law have had a poor success rate, especially in the courts, said Allison Kasic, an advocate for reform of Title IX who is a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, a right-of-center research and education institution. One of the most high-profile examples involved the decision in 2006 by James Madison University to cut seven men’s teams to comply with the law. A coalition of athletes, fans and others sued to reverse the decision, but the lawsuit was dismissed….
Kasic said many colleges used the proportionality method to comply with Title IX because it was seen as a permanent fix; the other two methods require continuing efforts to expand sports for women or to monitor interest on campus. By adding women’s golf, the university may be in compliance now, but “it’s still a short-term solution,” she said.