CSUN Sports

Re “5 CSUN Men’s Sports Face Elimination Under Title IX,” June 6.

Let me see if I have this straight. Cal State Northridge may discontinue its national powerhouse baseball and volleyball programs along with other sports, just as UCLA jettisoned its successful gymnastics program, because not enough women are playing varsity sports.

[Since this letter was written, CSUN has announced the elimination of its men’s baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming programs.]

It seems to me this is the result of gross misinterpretation of Title IX. The law’s stated purpose is to provide a system for addressing discrimination. It was not written to form a booster club for women’s sports. To fight discrimination anywhere is noble. To promote increased participation in women’s sports by cutting popular, well-established programs is neither the intention of Title IX nor the product of anyone’s common sense.

The logical foundation for the controlling interpretation of the law seems to be the proposition that given the opportunity, women “will naturally participate in athletics in numbers equal to men.” I must ask whether this idea is the product of the same politically correct but misguided thinking that inflicted New Math and Whole Language on our schoolchildren. Is there a study to support this madcap assertion? The only numbers presented show that CSUN’s equal-opportunity intramural programs are only 20% women. I’m not sure that women will rush to sign up for intramural teams once varsity baseball has been eliminated. What does seem certain is that those varsity players who don’t transfer to a school with a living team will most certainly skew future CSUN intramural participation rates even further.

SEAN CASSIDY

Tarzana

* David Wharton and Jeff Fletcher’s article about the crisis in athletics at universities and especially at CSUN highlights the inherent problem with gender equity issues. University officials correct the disparity by punishing innocent male athletes by eliminating sports such as baseball and volleyball.

I have a simple solution: Do away with all gender-based athletics at the scholarship level (extramural) and let men and women compete equally in all these sports. At first the females will not be at par with the men, but in time they will upgrade their abilities and compete appropriately, much as Manon Rheaume does in hockey. The gender-based sports could be left in place for intramural participation.

SIDNEY GOLD

Granada Hills