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JMU ENACTS PROPORTIONALITY PLAN TO COMPLY WITH TITLE IX

JMU ENACTS PROPORTIONALITY PLAN TO COMPLY WITH TITLE IX

September 29, 2006

HARRISONBURG — James Madison University's Board of Visitors voted today to approve a plan to bring the JMU Athletics program into compliance with Title IX.

The plan will take effect July 1, 2007, when the following varsity teams will be eliminated:

Men's
Archery
Cross Country
Gymnastics
Indoor Track
Outdoor Track
Swimming
Wrestling

Women's
Archery
Fencing
Gymnastics

With 28 varsity teams, the JMU Athletics program ties for the rank of seventh in terms of the number of teams among all 327 Division I schools nationally.

"The JMU Athletics program is unusually large for a public university of our size," said Joseph Damico, rector of the JMU Board of Visitors. "With so many teams, we faced an insurmountable challenge coming into compliance with Title IX. Fundamentally, that is why the Board voted today for this plan."

The proportionality requirements of Title IX mandate that collegiate athletics programs mirror each school's undergraduate population in terms of gender. As of the fall semester 2006, JMU's proportions place it fundamentally out of compliance with federal law:

Overall Enrollment
Female 61%
Male 39%

Athletics Participation
Female 50.7%
Male 49.3%

Jeff Bourne, JMU athletics director, said, "We explored every avenue in search of an alternative to this action. Lamar Daniel, a well-known consultant on Title IX compliance, has worked closely with us and he believes that this plan is our most viable alternative for reaching compliance with Title IX."

Once this plan is fully implemented, total participation in athletics will move to 61 percent female and 39 percent male, in alignment with current student enrollment. The university will then have 18 intercollegiate sports:

Men's
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Golf
Soccer
Tennis

Women's
Basketball
Cross Country
Field Hockey
Golf
Lacrosse
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track, Indoor
Track, Outdoor
Volleyball

This decision affects 144 student-athletes currently participating in these sports, as well as three full-time and eight part-time coaches.

"Now that the Board has voted to enact this plan, our main concern is with our affected student-athletes and coaches," said Bourne. "We are taking great care to preserve the financial guarantees already made to our student-athletes. If you are a student-athlete on an affected team and you are receiving a scholarship, you will continue to receive that scholarship until you graduate."

Currently, eight students on the rosters of the 10 affected teams receive a total of $13,500 in scholarships. Access to sports-medicine and academic-advising programs also will be available to them. Any affected student-athletes who decide to transfer to another program will be provided with full assistance regarding the transfer process. Affected coaches will receive severance packages appropriate to the university's policies and procedures.

All of the financial resources recovered from the implementation of this plan will be redirected to provide the full complement of NCAA scholarships for women's golf, tennis and swimming. Partial scholarship funding will return to men's golf and tennis, with a plan to enhance to full funding by 2011.

To view online the press conference held Friday afternoon to announce the plan, go to http://media.jmu.edu/special/8_924.asx. Attending are JMU President Linwood Rose, Board of Visitors Rector Joseph Damico, Associate Athletic Director Sheila Moorman, BOV member Wharton Rivers Jr., and Athletic Director Jeff Bourne.
This is very sad news not just for wrestling but for the student/athletes, prospective James Madison University student/athletes, coaches and fans of all the sports being eliminated.

At first glance it seems there is more than compliance with Title IX going on. Why eliminate three women teams and 47 women athletes if Title IX is your only reason for doing this? I looked at their latest EADA Survey and it appears to me that they could have achieved the same approximate ratios (actually slightly improved the ratio for women) by not eliminating any of the women teams and not eliminating men gymnastics or archery. This would have saved 73 men and women athletes from losing opportunity and still allowed them to have been in same ratios of men and women as their enrollment.

The dropping of these three women teams makes it seem that there is more than Title IX motivating this decision. I looked at there EADA reporting of revenue and expenses and they were showing approximately $22,637,000 in grand total revenue and $16,804,000 in expenses for approximately $ 5,563,000 in approximate grand total net income. About $5,000,000 of that net income was reported as coming from sources not allocated by sport or gender. I was not successful in getting to the press conference from the site that Richard provided so I don't know if they gave some other reasons besides Title IX compliance in that press conference. It just seems from these numbers that the money is there that some of these programs did not need to be dropped and they still would have been in Title IX compliance. Perhaps they are projecting losing some of this $5,000,000 net income that is not allocated by sport or gender.

It appears to be more of the trend that university athletic departments across the country are following in basically focusing all their resources and energy into their money makers (men's football and basketball) and eliminating as many men and women non-net income producing sports as they can to keep in compliance with Title IX and NCAA Division I minimum sport program requirements. Even some of the formerly safe non-net income producing sports like baseball and track & field are now being affected by this trend.

I don't know if there is any coordinated movement by national organizations and leaders of all of these non-net income producing sports to attack this problem, but the leaders of these sports need to be working together to confront this problem if they are not already.
I got on the James Madison website and listened to the press conference that lasts a little over 21 minutes. It is an interesting conference to listen to for those interested in this subject.

There was one question concerning why three women sports were also dropped and the reply was that basically those sports along with the men's sports that were dropped in conjunction with them did not meet with their plan to stay within their conference sports and on a national level these sports were becoming more club level sports.
I think the official reason that James Madison dropped wrestling is because they couldn't compete in their own leage, with Hofstra being the greatest wrestling team to ever grace God's green earth.

Just my theory.
My impression after listening to the press conference was that the decision that James Madison made to drop wrestling and these other sports was not done lightly. They did spend some time in coming to this decision. It appears that they had been struggling with the decision for over two years. They also pointed out during the conference that there incoming class of freshman enrollment was 64% female. I just hate seeing all these sports being dropped and all this lost opportunity. As this happens college sports continue to become more about professional rather than amateur competition. I just think it is very sad and disappointing.
Quote:
Originally posted by Husker Fan:
...I don't know if there is any coordinated movement by national organizations and leaders of all of these non-net income producing sports to attack this problem, but the leaders of these sports need to be working together to confront this problem if they are not already.
I learned yesterday from Ted Witulski that there is a national organization dedicated to that effort. It is the College Sports Council in Washington DC. Ted informed me that they just hired Jessica Gavora who wrote the book "Tilting the Playing Fields...." which Ted says gives an interpretation of Title IX according to wrestling's point of view. He recommended that I read the book and become involved with the College Sports Council. Its website address is below:

http://www.collegesportscouncil.org/home/
Good to see, that since leaving USAW, Ted has discovered the impact of Title IX on men's sports and wrestling in particular.
CSC Calls James Madison U. to Survey Students Before Cutting Athletic Teams

CSC Calls James Madison U. to Survey Students Before Cutting Athletic Teams

October 2, 2006

Contact: Jessica Gavora
(202) 237-6011

Washington, DC - October 2, 2006

Reacting to James Madison University's decision to cut ten athletic teams in order to comply with Title IX, the federal education anti-sex discrimination law, the College Sports Council (CSC) called for a survey of student interest in athletics instead.

"The student-athletes of Virginia, and their tax-paying parents, deserve much better than the pointless application of gender quotas in a state university athletic program," said CSC President, Leo Kocher.

"No one can honestly argue that the elimination of 10 teams is progress, for women or for men," said Kocher.

CSC Executive Director Eric Pearson noted that the Bush Administration announced in March 2005 that the Department of Education had approved surveys of student interest in athletics as a way to comply with Title IX while avoiding cuts to athletic programs.

"The College Sports Council calls on the James Madison Board of Visitors to suspend its decision to cut the teams until a survey of student interest can be conducted," said Pearson.

"It's just common sense to say that schools should be able to prove their compliance with Title IX by meeting the interests of students in athletics," said Pearson. "The Bush Administration has made the interest survey tool available to colleges and universities. James Madison owes it to its student-athletes and coaches to try this method of compliance first."

Pearson acknowledged that threats from gender quota groups to sue any school that attempts to show compliance with the law by surveying the actual interests of students may have kept colleges and universities from using the surveys.

The CSC also calls on the Bush Administration to do more to make the interest surveys a realistic, usable tool for colleges and universities.

"The 144 student athletes at JMU are the latest in a long line of victims of the gender quota. They join the unfortunate others at Rutgers and Shippensburg who have dropped multiple teams. The coaches, athletes, and parents of the College Sports Council have said for years that Title IX's proportionality rule inevitably leads to the elimination of athletic opportunities. Now the administrators at JMU have said the same," said Pearson.

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

Spokeswoman Jessica Gavora is available for interview or guest booking.
It is very disappointing that James Madison University dropped any of these sports. But you can't help noticing that James Madison University chose to drop wrestling with 36 participants listed in their latest EADA survey report and to keep active mens soccer with 35 participants.
This is an another article that shares some of the thoughts of the James Madison University wrestling coach and wrestlers.

http://www.intermatwrestle.com/news/newsdisplay.aspx?ID=4415
College Sports Council and James Madison students to hold Title IX rally at U.S. Department of Education, November 2

Tim Craley College Sports Council
10/17/2006

WHO:
The College Sports Council with students, parents, and coaches from James Madison University invite everyone in the college and Olympic sports communities to join them in their Title IX reform rally.

WHEN:
Thursday, November 2, 2006
11 am Eastern Standard Time

WHERE:
In front of the U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave. SW
Washington DC, 20202

WHY:
In the interest of empowering students to have a voice in their school's sports sponsorship, and to foster a more "Athlete Centered" management approach by Athletic Administrators.

We will be appealing to the US Department of Education to help schools implement surveys as an alternative to cutting athletic programs. Student athletes, student government members, coaches, parents, and sports groups from across the country will be attending to lend a voice, and support our young athletes in this endeavor.

After the rally the men's and women's JMU track and field teams will run side by side around the Department of Education in protest. Any and all athletes from any school are welcome and encouraged to participate in the run.
I am glad that the College Sports Council has organized this in conjunction with the students, athletes, parents and coaches from James Madison University. I hope that there is a big contingent from James Madison and other colleges of male and female athletes who will run together around the Department of Education in urging James Madison University and other universities to start using the interest surveys for Title IX compliance. I hope the gathering will help persuade our government officials that they need to finally stop this devasting erosion of men's sports programs across our country. One way the government could help is by devising a process that would make it easier for colleges to use and implement the interest survey method to meet Title IX requirements. The government at the same time needs to devise a method to make the interest survey method less vulnerable to legal challenges.
http://www.savejmusports.org/

There is a video of a young woman Jennifer Chapman, President of the JMU Student Athlete Advisory Council. She is very impressive in stating her reasons why JMU should not have dropped all these sports.
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