Bush administration may relax Title IX regulations

The federal government may relax a regulation that requires colleges and universities to maintain equal opportunities for women in athletics.

The regulation, Title IX, requires gender ratios of athletes to correspond to the makeup of the student body. Hailed as ensuring gender equality, it evokes mixed feelings from administrators, coaches and athletes.

Since Title IX took effect, the University has reshuffled its athletics program to comply. Some sports like football and wrestling require large rosters of men and do not have women's counterparts. Yale University has cut its wrestling team and other universities nationwide have taken similar actions.

Now the 15-member Commission on Opportunity in Athletics — created by Education Secretary Rod Paige last January — is widely expected to relax Title IX regulations.

But dissent in the commission received attention recently because of the commission's decision not to voice support for the current regulations. The original deadline for the commission's report was postponed from Jan. 31 to the end of February.

Title IX, enacted in 1972 as part of the Educational Amendments Act, has spurred more women's athletic programs by encouraging increased funding and recruiting for female athletes.

But critics contend it has created opportunities for some athletes at the expense of others.

The National Wrestling Coaches Association has sued the Department of Education, asserting that requiring funding to be proportional to the makeup of the student body discriminates against men's sports teams, hundreds of which have been eliminated in the past three decades.

According to NCAA statistics, in 1980 there were 374 men's wrestling teams, and 229 in 2001. The University's wrestling team was eliminated in 1993 but was reinstated in 1996 through private endowments.

Varsity wrestling coach Michael New said the team hopes to develop a full endowment to become self-sufficient. He said the administration — crediting athletics director Gary Walters — has "battled with Title IX" and done well at establishing equality in sports.