“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” – Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972.
Title IX was intended to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment but did not address or mention discrimination in education.
While Title IX didn’t mention sports at all, some soon saw the new federal statute as a cudgel with which to beat a college sports establishment that was spending little on women’s sports as compared to men’s. Countless lawsuits followed, and some needed definitions came about, but the courts generally held that if colleges spent more per person on men’s sports than on women’s sports, then they were out of compliance.
Of course, it costs a lot more per athlete to play ice hockey or football than it does to play volleyball or soccer. So, men’s athletics were drastically cut back. Sports like wrestling were especially hit hard. Hundreds of teams disappeared, and thousands of wrestlers lost chances to compete.
Ditto re: men’s gymnastics, cross country, golf, and other programs
Football took hits as well.
As a UNH freshman in 1973 I watched the Wildcats defeat Vermont 19-7 at Cowell Stadium. UVM’s Catamounts had a nice quarterback named Bob Bateman. But Vermont dropped football the next year. Bateman transferred to Brown University and eventually played some pro football, to include a stint with the Patriots. But not every UVM player was as fortunate. Countless sports dreams were dashed by Title IX’s implementation.
Vermont, being Vermont, was “all in” re: Title IX compliance. Today, UVM is one of only four Division I colleges that do not sponsor volleyball or baseball. Catamount football remains a distant memory.
But did you know that UNH also dropped baseball after Title IX? That’s right. Our state university does not have a baseball team to help celebrate our national pastime. Very sad.
Consider that when Title IX was written in 1972, only 42% of college students were female. But today, only 42% of college students are male.
While the implementation of Title IX savaged countless male teams, it did create untold new sports opportunities for females. That’s been wonderful for girls and for girls’ parents (like me) who thus enjoyed priceless new sports experiences denied to earlier generations. And while we bemoaned the cuts endured by males, we also celebrated the new opportunities enjoyed by females.
At least until Joe Biden messed things up.
In April, the Biden Administration rewrote Title IX to better factor in LGBTQ+ concerns. According to the Associated Press, Biden originally planned to include a new policy forbidding states, schools, or organizations from limiting transgender sports participation but held off on that during this election year. Dozens of states are still suing and issuing executive orders to counter Biden’s Title IX rewrite.
But it’s safe to say that if Biden is reelected, he’ll impose an agenda allowing for universal access by biological boys (identifying as females) to girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and teams—an agenda opposed by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
UVM football, UNH baseball, and so many other sports programs are forever gone with the wind. Countless disbanded men’s teams are unlikely to ever return—forever banished.
One can only hope that Joe Biden is similarly banished from the White House this November.
Gone with a different wind.
