The ETSU Chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance held a meeting in the Cave Tuesday to discuss the importance of maintaining Title IX.
The amendment states that no person in the United States can be “denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” on the basis of his or her sex.
Title IX guarantees equal rights of men and women regarding anything education-related. Because it was passed, there is really no way to dispute it.
However, President Bush is gathering a committee from “big sport” schools, which hold an emphasis on football and basketball, to decide whether Title IX should remain in effect.
The committee has suggested ideas such as requiring women to fill out interest surveys to determine if they are genuinely interested in participating in sports.
Misty Adams, FMLA member, said that while Title IX is not necessarily enforced in all aspects, Bush’s committee is now trying to take more rights away from women.
Members of the FMLA feel that this is an unreasonable idea that completely supports the type of sexist behavior that Title IX was passed to prevent.
As pointed out in the meeting, a recent article in Ms. Magazine stated that high school boys have 1.1 million more opportunities to participate in athletics than their female counterparts.
The article goes on to point out that in the 2000-2001 school year, the average coach’s salary for a girls’ team coach was $86,000 while the boys’ team coaches received an average of $115,000.
At the meeting, FMLA members discussed ways to inform the public of the importance of keeping Title IX in effect.
They fear that if Bush’s committee finds a way to enforce this “interest survey” idea, it will create a snowball effect, affecting women in greater ways than anyone can predict.
The group plans to get in touch with faculty members and female athletes to get their opinions and hopefully their support.
Their main goal regarding the issue is to clear up any misconceptions about Title IX and do everything they can to prevent it from losing support.

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