State
proposes to investigate Title IX rules
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
State
Legislatures announced in September a law
that will study athletic programs throughout
California’s public campuses, making sure
they are complying with the rules of Title
IX.
 The
new law, titled AB 2295, addresses gender
equity in the California’s athletic programs.
State legislators will conduct investigations
around the California State University system
campuses in January 2003, according to Kristal
DeKleer, spokeswoman for Assembly member
Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach.
Title IX bans sex discrimination in the
athletic programs that receive federal funding,
according to federal law.
If a campus is in violation within the law,
federal funding to the entire campus would
be eliminated, said Armando Contreras, executive
assistant to Cal State Long Beach President
Robert Maxon.
The CSU system has dealt with Title IX before
in 1993, when the California National Organization
for Women filed a suit to the Superior Court
in San Francisco. The organization filed
the suit when it found that the CSU schools
had not been implementing provisions of
the law.
The Cal-Now and the CSU filed a 1998 Consent
Decree, stating that the CSU systems provide
additional resources for women to participate
in campus intercollegiate athletic programs.
The decree looks at the equity between men
and women’s team including participation,
expenditures and grants in-aid. Athletic
Director Bill Shumard said that CSULB has
been meeting the standards of the Consent
Decree ever since its enactment.
“The decree is rigid and has very specific
parameters,” Shumard said, “however, CSULB
have made it under their guidelines for
seven to eight years.”
This bill will also be used to gather evidence
that the CSU campuses have been following
the rules of Title IX, and investigate public
schools that do not follow the law.
“We know that the CSU system has been following
the rules of Title IX and the consent decree,
but the investigation will get research
on how each campus is doing, “ DeKleer said.
Contreras said he believes that the newly
passed law might not have a great affect
on CSULB.
“I don’t think it will affect our campus
too much,” Contreras said, “we’ve been in
compliance for a number of years with the
consent decree.”
Some of the benefits CSULB received from
Title IX were full funding of athletic scholarships,
as well as additional sports for women.
Added sports include soccer, women’s tennis
and an expansion of the woman’s water polo
with the addition of more players.
Although Title IX has increased opportunities
for athletes to receive equitable funding,
areas of the law that still need to be discovered.
“We are continuing to explore the issue
of Title IX,” Shumard said, “It’s bad to
see men’s sports such as wrestling and gymnastics
have their funding cut, since both sports
are great at drawing in a crowd.”
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