The College Sports Council, in conjunction with the Independent Women’s Forum, is holding a rally for Title IX reform tomorrow at 11am in front of the Department of Education. Student-athletes from schools whose teams have been cut due to Title IX will be there, including James Madison, Howard, Rutgers and others. Please join us. Wear your school colors or uniform. Demand justice.
College Sports CouncilPress Release
Contact: Jim McCarthy
(202) 333-8810
Student-Athletes to Protest at Department of Education for Reform of Title IX
Scores of Men and Women Athletes from Eliminated Teams Join Together for Largest Title IX Reform Rally
WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 2, 2006 – Scores of student-athletes that have recently lost their teams because of Title IX enforcement will be holding a rally and press conference in front of the Department of Education on Thursday, November 2 to demand immediate reforms to save college sports. In what will be the largest protest ever for Title IX reform, athletes from dozens of sports and a host of schools will be speaking out, supported by coaches, parents and advocacy groups.
Students have been granted a meeting with DoEd officials immediately following the rally at which they will be delivering a petition detailing specific reform requests, with several hundred signatories.
Because of Title IX’s onerous proportionality requirements, schools across the country are forced to eliminate teams or artificially cap rosters. That enforcement prong, with all its ongoing harms, should be scrapped, the students will ask. In addition, they will request that DoEd strengthen its guidelines on surveying students to measure interest in athletics – by surveying both men and women and providing schools a solid legal backing for compliance through measuring interest.
WHO: Student-athletes, led by 10 recently-eliminated teams from James Madison University, along with parents coaches and advocacy groups. Representatives from eliminated teams at a host of other schools will also be present, including University of Maryland, George Washington University, Rutgers, Howard University and American University.
WHAT: Rally at the front entrance of the Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. Press conference to follow immediately.
WHEN: Thursday, November 2 at 11 a.m.
WHY: Students will decry the ongoing harm caused by the proportionality prong of Title IX and demand immediate reforms to save their sports. During the rally the men’s and women’s track teams will run side-by-side around the Department of Education in protest.
The College Sports Council is a national coalition of coaches, parents, athletes and educators, including a variety of college coaching associations.
Additional Background and Sources: http://www.savingsports.org.