At 02:02 AM 6/6/97 -0400, Dave Wollstadt wrote:
 
>2.  I'm glad "girl reporter" is honest enough to admit that she doesn't mind
>seeing male athletes get screwed by Title IX.
 
It may surprise you to know that I am not the enemy or part of the problem.
Women who want equity are not the enemy or part of the problem.
 
"Getting screwed" is a term that you choose, not me.  But since you've
brought it up, let's talk about who's doing the figurative screwing here.
Who decides the budgets of athletic departments?  Who controls which sports
are funded?  It's not me, and it's not the hundreds of thousands of women
who were denied equity in the university/college system in the U.S. before
Title IX was enacted. It also isn't the hundreds of thousands of girls and
young women who are entitled to equity.
 
Schools who have trouble complying with Title IX are usually schools that
have a disproportianate number of men's athletics teams, or are just plain
top-heavy with football scholarships.  Better planning will correct this
problem.
 
It isn't just men's sports that get cut as a result of Title IX, by the way.
Other women's sport are cut back in favor of women's team sports.  For
example, a synchronized swim team may lose scholarships when a women's
hockey team is introduced to comply with Title IX.  It isn't the fault of
this "girl reporter"--or any other women who want to see equity--that
colleges and university's are unwilling to comply without touching football
scholarships.
 
 
>But surely that wasn't the
>intent of Congress when it passed the legislation. The intent was to open
>opportunities to women, not take them away from men.
 
You are correct.  If those opportunities are being taken away from men
(which is a debatable point), you should direct your anger at the ADs of
colleges and universities, not at the women who want equity.
 
As for opportunities being taken away...nationwide, there are ample
opportunities for men to play college sports.
 
>And is "girl reporter"
>happy about seeing entire sports, like men's gymnastics or wrestling,
>endangered because several schools have decided that its easier to cut those
>non-revenue sports than to expand scholarship opportunties for women?
 
Of course not.  Talk to the ADs, not to me.
 
You know, I sense a little hostility and sarcasm about the nickname "Girl
Reporter."  I'm glad of the opportunity to explain this, because the
explanation illustrates several points:
 
This guy walks up to me at an Ohio State men's ice hockey game. "What do you
do for the team?" he asks. "Do you do stats?"
 
"No," I reply, "I don't do anything for the team. I write about the team."
 
"Ooohhh!" he exclaims, his eyes widening in comprehension. "You're a
writer!" I nod. "It's so nice to see girl reporters in this field."
 
Equity.  What a concept.
 
Paula C. Weston
Girl Reporter
 
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