Shock, tears and ultimately disappointment were the typical emotions that stemmed from students as the Iowa State athletics department eliminated the National Collegiate Athletes Association [NCAA] men’s baseball and swimming and diving programs in 2001. The primary target for these actions was Title IX, but there were other contributing factors that led to this decision.

Title IX is incorporated in every college to equate between the gender issues in sports. Even tough Title IX plays a big role in the process of cutting sports, there are other departments that should be recognized. Departments like the budget within athletics should be blamed just as much as Title IX in this situation.

“I just know that Title IX does get blamed a lot for sports that have to be dropped, but it might be a smaller factor in the decision making process,” said Dr. Calli Sanders, Senior Associate Director of Sports Administration and deputy chief of the Title IX program. “It’s not the soul reason behind cutting a sport.”

Sanders said the Title IX program is an integral part of college athletics to give fair rights between both genders as they compete for a national championship.

Title IX is a clause from the 1972 Education Act, which states that women have the same equal rights as men in any educational program that is given federal aid. Title IX has pushed into the athletics department because they are funded by federal aid as well. The athletics department is trying to keep sports equal between men and women, regarding budget and population within each of the sports.

“The one thing you have to keep in mind is that the ratio has to be in line with your undergraduate student body ratio,” said Ronald Phillips, University Counsel of Texas Tech University. “If your female undergraduate percentage is higher than the male, then you have to keep that in mind.”

Sanders said the undergraduate population percentage of Iowa State is 56.6 percent male and 43.4 percent female. That means there can be a small increase in male athletes to women because of the population and the rules of the NCAA.

These rules were met at Iowa State at the end of the 2014-15 school year. There were a total of 420 athletes this past year with 230 male and 190 female. That means 54.7 percent of the total athlete population were male and 45.3 percent were female. Since the total male athlete population is under 56.6 percent, the athletic department doesn’t violate the regulations of the NCAA.

“We make sure to check our work many times, so we aren’t violating any policies with the NCAA regarding the Title IX clause,” said Steve Malchow, Senior Associate Athletics Director of Communications. “I wasn’t here when baseball was cut in 2001, but Title IX is one of many aspects used to cut a sport.”

Title IX seemed to receive all the blame after cutting the men’s swimming and diving and baseball programs after the 2000-01 school year. Title IX was a contributor, but not the sole reason behind these two cuts. The budget of the Iowa State athletic department became another reason to the decision making process.

The athletic department faced a $1.4 million dollar deficit during the 2000-01 school year, so they believed cutting the two sports would accommodate their budget better, according to the Iowa State Daily. The decision did allow the department to come out of debt and accomplish their goal.

Malchow believes the budget is the most important asset in this process because if you don’t have the money to support it, then why should the university provide it.

Sanders said there are other factors in the process of adding or cutting a sport like scholarships, geographic location and accommodates the students at the university, but these are minor.

“Title IX and the budget play a main role in the decision making process,” Malchow said. “We need to realize that Title IX has benefited rather than hurt us.”

Even though these policies need to be implemented into each university and their athletic department, there are some people that think there should be a new program to Title IX. This program would allow the sports to be fair, but also logical to the atmosphere at Iowa State.

Dan and David Flattery are brothers who played Iowa State baseball back in the late 1970s as a Division I sport. Dan, a catcher, and David, a pitcher, known as the Flattery Battery duo, have different views on the Title IX and the affects of baseball within the Iowa State athletic budget.

“My biggest down on Iowa State is that they never pumped any money into the baseball program,” Dan said. “They did just enough to maintain the field and provide a few scholarships, but they never made a big commitment, financially, to the baseball department.”

Dan said he saw the baseball program collapsing for many years before the official announcement of the cut. The financial push to keep it profitable and playable didn’t occur. The actions from the athletic department made Dan and David disappointed in their university.

David has been thinking about a solution and reconstruction of the Title IX program and he believes there could be a few changes to the clause itself.

“The best idea I heard is to put your bigger revenue sports to the side like football and basketball and then make it even,” David said. “The big revenue sports really support the rest of the others, so they should have their own category.”

Matt Odland, a sophomore in agricultural business and a current member of the baseball club, sees the same viewpoints as Dan and David, but he respects the Title IX clause because it’s making strides to gender equality. Odland said he’s disappointed that baseball hasn’t become more than a club sport since 2001.

The thing that frustrates Odland the most is seeing Iowa State as the only college that’s not in the Big 12 conference for baseball. Odland said he’s optimistic because he’s been hearing from other sources that the school could take on another men’s sport right now if an idea became an option. The only thing standing between the sport becoming a NCAA team is the money that needs to go towards the program.

“When people think about sports in the U.S., they think about football, basketball and baseball,” Odland said. “It’s just a shame we can’t provide all three of these sports at Iowa State.”

Overall, the Title IX clause hasn’t been blamed as much for specific decisions in today’s society, but had some backlash in 2001 with dropping the baseball and men’s swimming and diving programs. With the budget playing a role in the decision making process, Title IX isn’t blamed solely, any longer, for cutting or adding a sport.

However, everyone has their own point of view on the situation, but everyone can agree on one thing: the Title IX clause has been an essential tool for the future of women and their opportunities in athletics and education at any college in the U.S.

Malchow said the athletics department is not looking to cut or add a sport at this current time because of Iowa State’s budget. In the future, they might be looking to add a sport or two, but they need to have the financial support to maintain it in the future.

“There’s a negative connotation towards a legislation that really has been phenomenal,” Sanders said. “I wouldn’t have been here and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play baseball throughout my childhood without Title IX.”