College athletics

An editorial in today's NY Times discusses a change in the way that the Department of Education will consider Title IX compliance, potentially allowing universities to limit athletic opportunities for women: A New Attack on Women's Sports

Last month, a memo went up on an Education Department Web site that was billed as a "clarification" of Title IX regulations. But the memo amounted to a major weakening of the criteria used to determine compliance with the rule that all schools receiving public funds provide equal sports opportunities for men and women. Under the new guidelines, on campuses where the proportion of female athletes falls notably below the proportion of women in the student body, and sports programs for women are not expanding, a college will still be able to show it is "fully and effectively" obeying the law by doing an online survey that shows women have no unmet sports interests. The department says that if the rate of response is low - as it is with most such surveys - that will be interpreted as a lack of interest.

One difference between undergrad and graduate programs (particularly a grad program at an urban school not known for its sports program) is the proximity to hot women athletes. There isn't so much in grad school. However, one of my colleagues did show up during our first bout of nice weather last week showing some serious arms-- nicely defined with impressive size, so, there is even some quality female muscle around...

Here's a gratuitous photo of shot putter Adriane Blewitt:


Some other resources about Title IX: Gender Equity in Sports, Title IX: 25 Years of Progress (1997), Women's Sports Foundation.