Since its enactment in 1972, Title IX has most often been synonymous with increasing
the number of females participating in inter-scholastic athletics. And with all the positives the federal act aimed
at ending discrimination in sports has brought about in creating equal educational opportunities for women, there
have been some negatives associated with its enforcement. Currently, 144 students, both male and female, at James
Madison University in Virginia are dealing with those negatives, and one of those 144 is wrestler Nick Broccoli,
an East Moriches resident who graduated fromWesthampton Beach High School last June.
At a press conference on September 29, the university announced that as of July
1, 2007, 10 varsity teams, including seven men’s teams and three women’s teams would be eliminated to help the
school comply with Title IX, According to the university, the move will help balance both the proportion of student
participation and budgeting. The expected $500,000 in annual savings will be directed to upgrading the remaining
women’s programs.
Getting the ax on the men’s side are archery, cross country, gymnastics, indoor
track, outdoor track, swimming and wrestling. Women’s teams that will be dropped are archery, fencing and gymnastics.
After the cuts, the school is left with six men’s and 12 women’s teams.
“Those sports were chosen because they provided the proportionality requirements
but also the budget recovery that we could put back into other teams,” James Madison University spokesman Andy
Perrine said. “The school looked at multiple combinations of teams and all the different ways we ran the numbers
this was the one that gave ability to comply with Title IX.”
The news came as a shock to student athletes, who had no indication that something
like this was going to happen.
“When I first heard the decision of the Board of Visitors I was in disbelief,” said Broccoli, a biology major in
the predental program. “I couldn’t figure out how they could make such a huge decision that affects the lives of
so many students with out any warning. For a good week I was really upset.”
“When we first heard about this over the phone from Nick, I was extremely shocked
but more importantly, angry because of the state they put our kids in immediately after being notified,” said Broccoli’s
father, who is also named Nick. “They were devastated and as young college students, felt like their whole world
just caved in. Obviously, their minds would not be on their studies and worst yet, something tragic could possibly
develop from this. With that in mind, I called the coach stating our concerns in which he said that was his concern
as well. He said the coaches would be keeping a close eye on all of them especially throughout the weekend.”
See WRESTLER, Page C4 In a 1979 policy interpretation of the rules, the federal
Department of Education established a three-prong test for compliance with Title IX, which it later clarified in
1996. Institutions can choose which of the three areas provides the best fit and uses those guidelines to meet
compliance requirements.
The first prong of compliance is proportionality with participation in varsity athletics
matching the ratio of male to female undergraduate enrollment. For example if 60 percent of the student body is
female, 60 percent of the athletes must be female.
The second prong is a bit more subjective and states that the institution has to have shown a history of adding
sports or have a plan in place to add programs in the future for the underrepresented sex, which in most cases
is women.
The third way to meet the mandate is to meet the current interest of the student
body and that interest is gauged through surveys, generally sent out to all students via e-mail. If a statistical
majority of students answering the survey believes that the state of athletics is satisfactory, then an institution
can be considered in compliance. In 2001, JMU surveyed its student body and the response led to the establishment
of a varsity softball team.
Recently, the equestrian team, which is currently in a club status, formally expressed
wishes to become a varsity sport. That request carries the same weight as a student survey stating that the needs
of the students were not being met. That situation meant that the school was no longer meeting any of the three
prongs of compliance.
The school’s enrollment is 17,000 with 61 percent of the students female and 39
percent male. Although 50 percent of all athletes are women, the school does not meet the proportional requirement.
The school also didn’t show a history of adding women’s sports, so the desire of the equestrian team to move up
the varsity level kept the university from meeting the third and final prong.
Perrine said it was not in the best interest of the university to continue expanding the number of teams it offered.
He said that among all 327 Division I schools in the nation, JMU is currently tied for seventh with the number
of varsity sports offered to the student body, numbers matched by large state universities such as Ohio State and
Michigan and private schools, including Harvard and Brown universities.
Perrine said the school was known to be out of compliance for several years but
nothing had yet been done until now because the Bush administration had expressed an interest in changing the interpretation
of Title XI. He explained that new interpretation was going to be based on the idea of having the same number of
teams and not the number of actual participants. When that change didn’t come about, the school was forced to do
something. The process of figuring out exactly how to comply was worked on this past summer, according to Perrine.
“The point of the law is to get more females involved in sports. That the same law
now is being used to deny males opportunities is absurd,” Westhampton Beach wrestling coach Paul Bass said. “It
was meant as an inclusionary law and is now becoming exclusionary.”
Broccoli’s father said that they were told at a meeting with the athletic director
that the school had been working on the issue for 18 months, during the same period that incoming freshmen were
still making their decisions about which school to attend.
“It was appalling to hear how JMU operated clandestinely during the 18-month process and the timing of the announcement
and method used to notify the students, coaches, and parents,” he said. “We felt used when we showed up to that
meeting.”
Since the announcement, students have rallied at the college as well as at the Department of Education in Washington,
D.C., to express discontent with the cuts.
“There is a lot of protesting and bitter feelings, which are expected,” Broccoli
said. “Everyone is pretty upset but we are doing everything we can to get this problem fixed.”
A majority of the wrestlers on the roster are from Virginia. But Broccoli’s teammate
and fellow Long Island resident Stephan Gunther from Mepham High School has also been affected, as has freshman
gymnast Kerry Giffuni, a Smithtown West graduate.
In addition to the student protests and action, the parents of the affected students have organized groups trying
to save the athletics teams for their children and are making a call for the sports to be saved until 2010, which
is when the current freshman class would graduate. Perrine said that is a bad idea.
“If we phase this decision in, the team would get to continue to play, but many
of the coaches may jump at the first opportunity to go somewhere else and the likelihood of hiring a coach of a
decent caliber for a sport that was slated to be cut would be unlikely,” he said. “If a coach stayed, by the final
year, the program would have zero talent except for the seniors. The teams wouldn’t be competitive and it would
be a slow and painful death.”
He also noted that any athlete that is currently receiving an athletic scholarship
at JMU will continue to receive that money until they graduate.
“If students really want to play, we would hope that they transfer where they would
continue to get the support throughout their career,” he said.
As for Broccoli, his future remains up in the air if the wrestling team cannot be
saved. He said he loves the school as well as wrestling, and said if he’s faced with the situation of no wrestling
at JMU, he will have to take a long look at things, including whether or not his credits will transfer to another
school. In addition to JMU, Broccoli was accepted to Wilkes University, where he was offered an academic scholarship,
the University of Scranton and Sacred Heart University. A competitive wrestling program, academic reputation and
school size were the determining factors in his final decision.
Broccoli’s choice followed an outstanding high school career. During his senior
year at Westhampton Beach, he placed sixth at the state tournament after becoming the first county champion from
the school in more than 25 years.
When asked if he had any advice for high school athletes who are looking into playing
sports in college, Broccoli said, “I don’t think I could give any advice considering I looked into the team and
everything was fine when I was recruited. Everything was fine for two whole months of practice. Then out of nowhere
they dropped the program. “I would say look into the team you want to play for and make sure that there is no chance
of them dropping the teams before you sign with the school.”
