Lehigh Football Nation

(Note: This blog posting has been cross-posted at Technorati , and can also be found in its entirety there .) In January, the University of Delaware issued a press release that has unfortunately, been all too common at smaller schools all over the country. They announced they were cutting a non-revenue men's athletics program - in this case, men's cross country and track and field - due to fiscal and Title IX compliance concerns. What was different this time was that the co-captain of the hundred year-old team, Corey Wall, decided to file a complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights. It cited reverse gender discrimination , and suggested that the enforcement of Title IX was, in reality, taking them away from men "against the spirit of Title IX." Truer words have never been spoken. (more)

Last week, I wrote a piece detailing a series of articles about Title IX by Katie Thomas of the New York Times . It is a series of pieces with "revelations" - some new, some old - that Division I schools play games in order to satisfy the proportionality prong of Title IX compliance. The debate about over Title IX enforcement rages on, and will continue to do so as long as activists on both sides of the issue continue to feel passionately about it. But the debate on Title IX compliance - if you look hard enough - is also at the core of the Patriot League presidents' vote on football scholarships, too. (more)

No, that wasn't the actual headline from the New York Times on their series on Title IX. The spashy article from Katie Thomas the Times , with the real title " College Teams, Relying on Deception, Undermine Gender Equity ", has this as a teaser: "To produce an appearance of gender equity, colleges have given roster spots to unqualified players, counted male practice players as women and trimmed men’s rosters." And as a corrolary article, the Times also included a piece by Marjorie Connelly , with another splashy headline: " Few Americans Familiar With Title IX, Though Most Approve of It ". As seems to happen way too often, their one-sided series of articles on the gender-equity law seems to - yes - rely on deception, and key omissions, to make its "case". (more)

As recently as two decades ago, it seemed ludicrous to think of cheerleading as a sport. Co-ed cheer squads, with the occasional gymnastic move by the girls and loud shouting in the megaphones by the guys, seemed more like a free way to get in to see the game rather than a true "sport" that involved competition. But the evolution of cheerleading into a true competitive sport may be more than a simple academic question these days. Quinnipiac College, a Division I non-football playing school, recently had a lawsuit brought against it by members of its recently-cut volleyball team. The team says that their team was the victim of budget cuts so that that Bobcats could continue to sponsor a "competitive cheerleading squad" . Advocates and foes alike can agree on one thing: if competitive cheerleading will be accepted as an official sport, the decision will have huge ramifications throughout the entire NCAA. (more)

There's a lot going on in the news these days: the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, the potential bankruptcy of CIT, the accidental hazardous chemical spill at Lehigh (with no casualties, thankfully), and - most importantly to a lot of people - Hermione Granger (I mean, actress Emma Watson's) choice to attend Brown University . (One can only hope she follows in fellow Ivy Leaguer Brooke Shields' (Princeton) footsteps.) With all this going on, it would have been real easy to miss two very interesting NCAA news releases released in the dead of summer regarding potentially momentous changes into the way financial aid is accounted, especially in regards to the Patriot League and athletic aid. The first involves an article from the NCAA News regarding Fordham's move to scholarships featuring quotes from the executive director of the Patriot League, Ms. Carolyn Femovich. While official statements have been made before, this interview goes more into detail on what is ha...