James Madison to drop teams for Title IX compliance
HARRISONBURG, Va. -- James Madison University's Board of Visitors voted Friday to drop 10 of its athletic teams in order to bring the school into compliance with the federal law demanding equity in male and female sports.
The school will eliminate seven men's varsity teams and three women's varsity teams on July 1 to bring it into Title IX compliance, the school said in a release. The school will have 18 teams after the plan is implemented.
Under the plan, total participation in athletics will move to 61 percent female and 39 percent male, which matches current student enrollment figures. The school had about 15,800 students enrolled in 2004-05.
"The JMU athletics program is unusually large for a public university of our size," said Joseph Damico, rector of the school's Board of Visitors. "With so many teams, we faced an insurmountable challenge coming into compliance with Title IX."
The decision affects 144 student-athletes participating in the sports and three full-time and eight part-time coaches, the school said.
The men's teams being eliminated are archery, cross country, gymnastics, indoor track, outdoor track, swimming and wrestling. The women's archery, fencing and gymnastics teams will be dropped.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
