Dozens of schools have shuttered men’s sports programs in recent years, citing financial reasons.
Then there’s James Madison University.
In late September, the school announced that it was cutting ten sports, not because it could no longer afford them, but because Title IX made them do it. Rarely has an institution of higher learning been so brazen as to bash the gender equity law.
But there was JMU President Linwood Rose at a press conference, making his argument.
“I’m sure that athletes and their families will be disappointed, just as our coaches will,” he said. “And they won’t be the only ones, because I think there are many other people who aren’t directly connected who are also going to be disappointed with the decision. The fact is, we had to comply with the law.”
At issue was the proportionality prong of Title IX, which requires that the percentage of the scholarships offered to female student athletes in the overall student-athlete population be in line with the percentage of female students in the overall student population. At JMU, the percentage of scholarships offered to female student athletes was 51 percent, while the percentage of female students was 61 percent.
School officials insisted that Title IX had forced its hand. Athletic Director Jeff Bourne noted that “these 10 sports cost us about $550,000 in a sports budget of $21 million. There’s no way we’re going to take all this heat and cause all the negative feelings for those affected athletes over $550,000.”
A Legacy of Mismanagement
One observer told Sports Litigation Alert that Rose was dealt a bad hand several decades ago when prior leaders ignored the consequences of offering so many sports programs. In fact, JMU’s menu of 28 intercollegiate sports is greater than 90 percent of all the other major athletic programs in the country.
After ignoring the problem in the 80’s and 90’s, the university sought to address the problem in 2001, but chose to trim scholarships rather than programs. It was essentially boxed into a corner.
Bourne told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the school explored “every avenue in search of an alternative to this action. Lamar Daniel, a well-known consultant on Title IX compliance, has worked with us and he believes that this plan is our most viable alternative.”
Most other schools have been a little more proactive on Title IX.
“If James Madison had been incrementally responding to women’s sports opportunities over the years, they wouldn’t be in the situation they found themselves,” Dr. Ellen Staurowsky, who chairs the graduate program for sports management at Ithaca College, told Sports Litigation Alert by email. “It is decades of inertia by decision makers that lead to Title IX compliance problems. So now this generation has to deal with massive cuts.”
“We are seeing what others would term a corporate restructuring on the Division I level. It puts the focus on the sports that will most likely bring distinction and potentially bring fewer headaches. So they do away with so-called lesser sports.”
