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Post by Yote 53 on Dec 10, 2019 14:41:02 GMT -6
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Post by Yote 53 on Dec 10, 2019 14:51:10 GMT -6
Football Program a Victim of Title 9
1. To align SCSU athletics with Title IX requirements An August ruling in federal court required the university to provide its female students with equitable opportunity to participate in athletics programs under the 1972 Title IX law that bars discrimination based on sex in federally funded education settings.
2. To ensure financial sustainability for the university and its athletics programs Fall enrollment at SCSU was lower than projected and the university is facing a deficit of around $5.1 million for the fiscal year 2020. Changes in the athletics lineup will reduce athletic department budget shortfalls totaling $1.6 million over the last five years and will save around $1.25 million annually.
3. To ensure compliance with NCAA bylaws Division II schools must sponsor a men's or mixed-gender and a women's sport in each of the three school seasons (fall, winter and spring). Men's soccer will fulfill this requirement for fall.
What about adding more women's programs? The university said it considered adding women's programs, but none of the potential scenarios would have brought its athletics program into compliance with Title IX and address St. Cloud State's financial situation.
What does Title IX have to do with it? In 2016 the university removed six athletic programs, including men's and women's tennis and Nordic skiing. That led to a lawsuit, with athletes claiming the university violated Title IX, a 1972 U.S. law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs funded with federal dollars.
The judge found St. Cloud State didn't comply with Title IX from at least 2014 and ordered the university to fix the imbalance. In part, the school needs to better align the proportion of female and male athletes with the proportion men and women who are full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students at the university.
Eliminating football and golf was the only way St. Cloud State found to address its financial challenges while complying with the court's order, Wacker said.
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