Today the Board of Visitors made a difficult, but necessary decision to bring the university's intercollegiate athletics program into compliance with the proportionality requirement of Title IX. Their decision was necessary because our program is now substantiality out of compliance. It was difficult because the consequence of the decision is the elimination of seven men's sports and three women's sports. To ensure you have accurate information concerning the Board's action, the following is provided:

James Madison University's Board of Visitors voted today to approve a plan to bring the JMU Athletics program into compliance with Title IX. The plan will take effect July 1, 2007, when the following varsity teams will be eliminated:

 

Men's    
Archery    
Cross Country    
Gymnastics    
Indoor Track    
Outdoor Track    
Swimming    
Wrestling    
 
Women's
Archery
Fencing
Gymnastics

With 28 varsity teams, the JMU Athletics program ties for the rank of 
seventh in terms of the number of teams among all 327 Division I schools 
nationally. 

"The JMU Athletics program is unusually large for a public university of 
our size," said Joseph Damico, rector of the JMU Board of Visitors. "With 
so many teams we faced an insurmountable challenge coming into compliance 
with Title IX. Fundamentally, that is why the Board voted today for this 
plan."  

The proportionality requirements of Title IX mandate that collegiate 
athletics programs mirror each school's undergraduate population in terms 
of gender. As of the fall semester 2006, JMU's proportions place it 
fundamentally out of compliance with federal law:


Overall Enrollment
61% Female - 39% Male

Athletics Participation
50.7% Female - 49.3% Male

Jeff Bourne, JMU athletics director, said, "We explored every avenue in 
search of an alternative to this action. Lamar Daniel, a well-known 
consultant on Title IX compliance, has worked closely with us and he 
believes that this plan is our most viable alternative for reaching 
compliance with Title IX."

Once this plan is fully implemented, total participation in athletics 
will move to 61 percent female and 39 percent male, in alignment with 
current student enrollment. The university will then have 18 
intercollegiate sports:
 
Men's
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Golf
Soccer
Tennis
 
Women's
Basketball
Cross Country
Field Hockey
Golf
Lacrosse
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track, Indoor
Track, Outdoor
Volleyball

This decision affects 144 student-athletes currently participating in 
these sports, as well as three full-time and eight part-time 
coaches. "Now that the Board has voted to enact this plan, our main 
concern is with our affected student-athletes and coaches," said 
Bourne.  "We are taking great care to preserve the financial guarantees 
already made to our student-athletes. If you are a student-athlete on an 
effected team and you are receiving a scholarship, you will continue to 
receive that scholarship until you graduate."  

Currently, eight students on the rosters of the 10 affected teams receive 
a total of $13,500 in scholarships. Access to sports-medicine and 
academic-advising programs also will be available. Any affected student-
athletes who decide to transfer to another program will be provided with 
full assistance regarding the transfer process. Affected coaches will 
receive severance packages appropriate to the university's policies and 
procedures.  

All of the financial resources recovered from the implementation of this 
plan will be redirected to provide the full complement of NCAA 
scholarships for women's golf, tennis and swimming. Partial scholarship 
funding will return to men's golf and tennis, with a plan to enhance to 
full funding by 2011.

Visit http://media.jmu.edu after 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. to view a press 
conference on this issue.