CSC Director Calls for Title IX Reform in the Washington Post

Earlier today, the Washington Post ran a column by Clay McEldowney, a member of the board of directors of the College Sports Council, where he argued that in light of some of the more recent cuts this year in men’s athletic programs, it’s time for federal authorities to reform Title IX:

This year, men’s programs across the country have gotten the third-strike call: swimming and soccer at Kutztown University (Pa.); baseball at the University of Northern Iowa; football at Western Washington; wrestling at Delaware State, Portland State and Carson-Newman. MIT, which has one of the largest athletic departments in the nation, eliminated men’s teams in gymnastics, ice hockey, golf, wrestling, alpine skiing and pistol.

Even in cases where a women’s team was eliminated alongside a men’s team — as happened when baseball and softball were cut recently at the University of Vermont, soccer and volleyball were dropped at the University of Maine, and men’s track was cut along with women’s swimming and diving at Pepperdine — the men’s teams had the larger roster.

From these wrenching choices an equally difficult question arises: Why are more guys being taken off the athletic field while the women mostly play on?

It’s a question that the Department of Education, the NCAA and its member institutions ought to be asking. Be sure to read the whole thing right now.