That is over 80,000 athletic opportunities!.
The plain and simple fact that their athletic programs were cut, is because they are male. Now that you see the devastating effects, let me first explain to you what is the cause, and then why it is such a problem, and what has been done by the victims of it.
It is called Tile IX, and it is part of the Educational Amendments of 1972. It prohibits the discrimination in educational programs, including intercollegiate athletics, on the basis of sex. Although, you may be thinking to yourself, "Wow! That doesn't sound so bad, it sounds pretty fair." Well, seven years later, in 1979, a policy was added to Title IX; the Intercollegiate Athletic Policy. This was created by a regulated bureaucracy, forcing schools to have an equal proportion of male and female athletes to male and female students enrolled in the school. So, say if a school has 40% males and 60% females, under Title IX they would be required to have 40% male athletes in their athletic programs and 60% female. Title IX has been devastating male sports programs at universities all over the nation. The legislation was created in order to end discrimination against women athletes, though, because of the unfair proportionality quota, it has created discrimination against the males instead of creating equality between the genders. .
At Bucknell in 2001, 41.9 percent of its athletes were women. However, 48.7 percent of the school's undergraduates were female. "It didn't matter that the university sponsored 28 varsity sports, 14 each for men and women. It didn't matter that the university added women's golf and women's water polo in 1998. It mattered only that the percentages didn't match, and as a result, the school decided it needed to have fewer male athletes, cutting wrestling".
There are also two other ways to be in compliance with the law; one is that an institution may demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex.