Wrestling coaches lose Title IX appeal
Federal court rules law did not contribute to sport's reduction
WASHINGTON - An appeals court panel upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming federal education officials discriminated against male athletes in enforcing equal opportunities for women.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed Friday a ruling that the National Wrestling Coaches Association and other athletic groups failed to show that the anti-discrimination law Title IX directly caused a reduction in men’s sports.
The three-judge appeals panel said in its 2-1 decision that the parties lacked standing to file the lawsuit, which it said should be litigated against individual colleges that eliminated men’s sports, not the federal government.
“The direct causes of appellants’ asserted injuries — loss of collegiate-level wrestling opportunities for male student-athletes — are the independent decisions of educational institutions that choose to eliminate or reduce the size of men’s wrestling teams,” Judge Harry Edwards wrote.
In his dissent, Senior Judge Stephen Williams argued the athletic groups had alleged a substantial enough link between the Education Department’s policies and program cuts to allow the lawsuit to go forward.
“Incurring departmental displeasure ... is not something an educational institution would do lightly,” he wrote.
Title IX prohibits gender discrimination in public and private schools that receive federal funding, which almost all do. It covers admissions, recruitment, course offerings, counseling, financial aid, student health and student housing, as well as athletics.
The law’s effect has been especially profound on sports. The number of girls participating in high school athletics rose from 294,000 in 1971 to 2.8 million in 2002. The number of women in college sports increased fivefold during the same time.
But about 400 men’s college teams were eliminated during the 1990s, with wrestling taking a particularly hard hit as schools attempted to meet the law’s requirement that the ratio of male and female athletes be similar to the overall student population.
Mike Moyer, executive director of the wrestling coaches association, said his group would appeal to the full appeals court.
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