In truth, what makes the Title IX discussion so difficult is that in many cases it’s about diminished number of men on campus. That makes the “equal” mandate painful to enforce, especially for colleges hoping to use athletics to draw more men to campuses. Catch 22.
And yet, few want to confront that reality. I visited James Madison University shortly after an announcement that men’s sports there were taking a big hit. That prompted demonstrations for and against Title IX, but not once did anyone point out the obvious: James Madison was struggling with the sports balancing because its campus was 60 percent female.
Here’s the latest wriggling about how to define balance, from Inside HIgher Education.