[log in to unmask] wrote:
 
> No, my point was that tax dollars (which is really the only thing that the
> government should be attempting to control the spending of), do not support
> the football program at many schools.  Many football programs are self
> sustaining.  Given that it does not receive tax dollars for support, it
> should be excluded from the scholarship counting on title IX.
 
Except, of course, that a public university is itself a governmental
organization.  I have stated already that I'm uncomfortable with the device that
was used to make Title IX apply to private universities.  But regardless of where
the money comes from, the University of Michigan is a public institution.  The
regents are selected through a public election.  The football program shelters
under this aegis.  Regardless of where each particular dollar comes from, this is
an entity that is defined by its public nature.  If the Victor's Club wishes to
go out and form its own football team, it is welcome to do so.  It wouldn't be
covered by Title IX.  But they have chosen to put their support behind a team
that is integrally a part of a publically-owned, tax-supported,
governmentally-run university.
 
I understand, having grown up in Ann Arbor, that this particular public
university has a history that it likes to think makes it vastly more independent
than its fellows.  And, in certain dealings with the state governmet, this is
theoretically true.  But beyond the fact that Jim Blanchard, for better or for
worse, showed that this isn't really the case on a practical level, this
isolationism doesn't really stand up to the kind of scrutiny required in this
instance.  Like all public universities, it has to deal with the fact that at its
foundation, it is subject to the will of the people.  And, thanks to the 14th
Amendment, this *also* means that there are certain edicts of the federal
government to which it must also listen.  Mandated equality in educational
programsis one of these areas.
 
There isn't a good stopping point between your example of booster money, which is
actively solicited by the university, being used to fund some sports to which
Title IX does not apply and the physics department soliciting money to build
research lab that they aren't going to allow women to use.  So long as they can
structure the books such that it does not appear to be using any general
university funds, this would be okay.  Which, I hope most of the people on the
list would agree, is absurd.  The most basic mission of the university is to
provide equal access to educational enrichment to all of the citizens of the
state.  So long as "educational enrichment" is how football is defined, it can't
escape from this trap.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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