Administrators need to think of creative solutions for Title IX compliance

04/08/05 - To the Cigar,After reading the recent article and editorial in the Cigar dealing with cuts in athletics at University of Rhode Island (March 25), I felt the need to respond.

First off, we all need to understand that Title IX was not, and is not, a bad law, but the way how many college administrations have their schools comply with it has not been good, this administration included.

When I earned my Master's degree in education, my thesis dealt with the history of Title IX, a very large undertaking. Having two daughters of my own, I am very happy they weren't born 40 years ago when the despicable practices and unfair opportunities occurred.

The original language of Title IX read, "No person in the U.S. shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Understanding this, it means ANY education program, and not just athletics.

Have all the programs, clubs and activities been checked for percentages? The fact that the university accepts more females than males could be questioned.

Certainly not by me though, because essentially, a quota system has been put in place which is also not essential for an institution to be compliant with Title IX. Someone may argue that they are not administrating a quota system, but no matter how you slice it or dice it, that is what it is.

My speculation is that it is the easiest (laziest) way that an institution can comply. It is obvious that the people who are making these decisions are not experienced enough or knowledgeable enough on the subject because there is this "thing" called the three part test.

The first part is the percentages of opportunities should be equal to that of the sexual make-up of your own student body. The second part states, does the school have a history for increasing opportunities for the underrepresented sex and third, does the school fully and effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.

I believe that it would take work to do numbers two and three but it would be fairer for everyone involved.

Straight percentages will only evoke the thought of fulfilling quotas. Then we must question some of the ideas: what if a school was not allowed to have an uneven student body or if we had to adhere to the 57-43 makeup in every single club and activity on campus?

How about the percentage in faculty and staff? Or how about all majors or classes? It would be interesting but not at all surprising to see what your percentages might be in women's studies class.

As I stated earlier I am not in agreement with quota systems; they discriminate somewhere along the line.

I would also like to share with you another thought. I was a 1975 graduate of URI and a heavyweight and co-captain of my wrestling team, a very good team at that.

We were a Division I program with goals of greatness. We wrestled an outstanding schedule with the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Clarion State, Maryland and many others.

Reality told me that I was not going to be on the team that would see a national ranking, but we were setting the groundwork for the outstanding recruits that followed.

After I graduated I followed the program closely, coming back to the university as the program grew into a top 20 national power. Lots of blood, sweat and tears occurred, for which I was very proud to be a part of that history.

But that was not the highlight for the university or me. What really hit home for me was the athletes who wrestled in the program that were either walk-ons or not good enough to break into our talented lineup as a starter.

I admired these kids as much if not more than our talented starters because these were the people that came to practice everyday to help make the rest of us better.

I asked this kid one day why he stuck it out knowing he would never be a regular starter and he said that it was great being part of the team, even though he wasn't a star.

He said it helped him do well at school because we were a group of guys that accepted him as their teammate even though he wasn't as good as the rest of us. This gets lost if we have to cut the walk-ons who quite simply want to be part of the team.

Simply put, administrators like URI President Robert Carothers, Assistant Athletic Director Greg Burke and Athletic Director Tom McElroy need to look at parts two and three of compliancy and not take the easy way out by cutting those kids if they show interest in being there.

For some of those kids, it is as meaningful as it was 30 years ago for this kid on our wrestling team and as meaningful as it is for the students and athletes that I teach, as well as for me today. Thank you for listening.

Raymond A. Miro

Class of '75