Tom Martin, Collegiate Athelete

In the fall of 2006, James Madison University (JMU) announced it would cut seven men’s teams and three women’s teams to streamline its athletic program and to comply with Title IX. The men would lose archery, cross-country, gymnastics, indoor and outdoor track, swimming and wrestling. The women would lose archery, fencing and gymnastics. The cuts would affect 114 athletes, coaches and their families. JMU students and parents questioned why administrators made the cuts, what caused them to eliminate the teams they did, and whether – in the name of gender equity – this had to happen at all.

Linda Martin, whose son Tom is a sophomore on the swim team was stunned when she heard the news. Tom, who had been recruited by several colleges, chose JMU because of their strong, successful program. He was devastated. He felt like the rug had been cut from under him.
Linda decided she’d do all she could to help Tom and the other students get back their sports. She agreed to join a contingent of parents and students and speak at a rally in Washington, D.C. that was organized by Title IX opponents whose purpose was to garner attention and support to change Title IX. She was inspired by the unity of the male and female athletes at JMU who exhibited enormous passion and desire to keep their sports. She was concerned that there was too much emphasis on the battle between the sexes and not enough advancement of the partnership their sports enjoy and should be cultivating! What is bad for one gender is bad for the other. At the same time, Linda was also hearing information from experts who explained that Title IX was not the cause of JMU dropping the sports. The NCAA and other experts suggested alternatives the school could have taken to come into compliance with Title IX regulations without dropping any sports. Despite hearing these options and reasoned pleas from students and parents, the JMU Board of governors wouldn’t budge. Linda saw that if the Board wouldn’t accept any of the alternatives, Title IX couldn’t be at the root cause of their decision to cut the sports. The bottom line was that JMU wanted to keep their athletic budget from growing larger so they made the decision to support fewer sports and make those sports more competitive in their conference. Linda, Tom and many others questioned why the school was cutting “Olympic” sports versus streamlining the “professional” sports’ budgets. This decision made the athletes feel like the administration really didn’t care about them, they were an entry into a deficit column in the budget and were therefore expendable.

The rest of the year was filled with turmoil trying to figure out how to get the sports back, who was up to the fight, and how to sift through and absorb all the information they were receiving. At times Linda felt that the interest groups were using JMU situation to further their cause rather than work together on the main point - to make sports available to as many participants as possible. She was angry that financial considerations were considered more important than the student/athletes. She stated, " some college athletes have been turned into pros with scholarships and perks that are wholly inappropriate, while others are losing the valuable lessons of amateur competition because their sport cannot be turned into a moneymaker. The colleges themselves have turned over too much power to the NCAA and are complicit in the abuse of college athletics for profit."

The most agonizing question of all was what would Tom do next year. Would he stay at JMU knowing that he probably wouldn't get to swim but would be with his friends or transfer to the College of William & Mary where he would swim, but lose ground academically? It was a very tough decision. Tom decided to stay. The bond forged by the training and competition with his team is very strong. We saw that most college athletes are not in it for themselves, but they do experience great personal growth as part of a hard-working team. As more young people lose the opportunity for this great experience, the quality of our society is diminished. It's not about some of us; it is about all of us! Tom and his classmates experienced a part of college life that wasn’t on any curriculum or syllabus. He learned first-hand that life’s not always fair.