THIS WEEK, a University task force released a report discussing the restructuring of financing for varsity sports. The proposed policy calls for the division of sports into four tiers - each tier receiving different levels of funding - and unfairly favors some sports over others. Due to restrictions imposed by Title IX and the skewed perceptions of the task force, this policy would unfairly cause "less prominent" men's athletics to suffer disproportionately heavy and potentially devastating losses.
When reviewing the list of sports classified as fourth tier, one cannot help but be taken aback. Sports considered insignificant enough to suffer reductions in funding include baseball, wrestling, men's golf, men's tennis, men's cross country and men's outdoor track. This classification means that these sports would be denied all funding that is not need-based financial aid. Essentially, what this translates into is no scholarships. Without the ability to offer talented new recruits money, these teams have no chance of remaining competitive. Their sports slowly will degenerate as the best athletes - who formerly would have considered U.Va. - opt to attend other schools which can offer them financial incentives.
In addition, holding fourth-tier status means that these teams only would be permitted to travel regionally and would have their coaching staffs reduced. This, in conjunction with the withdrawal of scholarship money, would bring the slow death of these athletic programs. Teams would be unable to sign new recruits, and many current U.Va. student athletes - eager to compete in the sport they have worked so hard to excel in - doubtlessly would read the writing on the wall and transfer.
Furthermore, the task force has proposed that men's indoor track be eliminated entirely, under the rational that "the elimination of men's winter track and field would have no effect on the number of student athletes and coaches at the University, because all participants also compete for the cross-country or outdoor track teams"(www.virginia.edu/topnews). What isn't noted, however, is that this elimination of indoor track will deliver yet another crippling blow to the track and field program. Without the ability to compete year round, runners will have less motivation to come to U.Va., and those who do come or who opt to stay on despite the dire circumstances, doubtlessly will lose their competitive edge over the winter season.
The implications of these proposed policies obviously are unfair and harmful to many student athletes who have worked hard at the University. While this itself is worthy of attack, the unjust nature of this policy in fact runs even deeper than is immediately evident. Look closely at the list of sports in the fourth tier: not one is a women's sport.
Not only have no women's sports been singled out for a reduction in funding, but the task force proposed that the University implement a women's golf team in order to help meet quotas set by Title IX.
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When Congress passed Title IX in 1972, it was intended to protect women's rights in both academic and athletic spheres. Its aim was to abolish privilege and to ensure equal opportunity for both men and women in academic and athletic spheres. Unfortunately, like all "politically correct" reforms of our time, Title IX has succeeded not in giving the targeted party equal rights, but special rights. Funding for very prominent and popular sports is being cut, while new teams are being added to fill quotas. No one will assert that there is as much interest in women's golf as there is in baseball. In light of this fact, it is unfair and unjust to make existing sports extinct in the name of funding, while simultaneously allowing for the creation of new teams. Though the intentions of these reforms - to balance out sex representation and spending in athletics - are good, they are misguided. There never has been and never will be interest in women's sports equal to that found in men's. Destroying prominent sports in order to support obscure ones in which there is little interest only serves to try to force equality in a domain where there is none. The University should focus on supporting the female athletes it has now rather than attempting to recruit more in an effort to boast more egalitarian statistics.
Further disturbing in the task force's decision to cut funding for many sports is the fact that the sports on which the most excessive amounts of money are spent are left untouched. Our men's basketball team spent $461,612 on travel last year (www.espn.go.com). It is blatantly unfair that some sports essentially be eliminated so that valuable resources can be wasted on superfluous luxuries for others.
Which teams bring in the money for these sports should not be an issue; athletics at the University should be regarded as one entity. Players do not need to be catered to; they should be given what they need to play well, and no more. This way, all sports will have enough finances to sufficiently support themselves. Athletic skill no doubt helped all of these athletes to get into this University in the first place - that should be enough.
The task force report makes it evident that a hierarchy has developed within the athletics program at the University. Whether this is the result of external legislation or internal biases, we all need to step back, re-evaluate our loyalties, and call for a change to policies that are unfair and prejudicial.
(Laura Parcells is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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