SGA attempts to reverse BOV’s Title IX ruling
By Alex Hilton, contributing writer
Posted on November 2, 2006

The SGA will be traveling to Washington, D.C., to protest the Title IX law, which forced JMU to cut 10 intercollegiate sports in late September.

“It is to my knowledge that over 700 teams have been taken away by Title IX and James Madison has had the most sports teams taken away at one time,” Student Body President Brandon Eickel (Jr.) said. 

Today, SGA, along with several athletes, members of the sports council, coaches and many others will show their support for JMU’s sports teams in front of the U.S. Department of Education.

“We are not running a protest,” Eickel said. “We are just trying to make a statement about our frustration with Title IX. The title is being forced by the department, and by talking to them, we hope we can persuade them to bring the teams back.”

Stacy Fuller, the student representative to the Board of Visitors, and Eickel are working with the College Sports Council to prepare for the rally. The CSC suggested going directly to the U.S. Department of Education, the department responsible for Title IX.
Fuller and Eickel will take part in a formal meeting with representatives of the Department of Education. They have also arranged a meeting with Virginia state senators to discuss the issue.

 In addition to preparing for Washington, SGA pledged its support for Wednesday’s Save Our Sports rally on the commons, to protest the Title IX cuts alongside sports teams.

The Senate also discussed the new policy by the Honors Council Advisory. 

“The new XF policy says that instead of getting an F on your transcript for academic dishonesty, you now receive a XF, so now in the future it will be distinguished from a regular failing grade,” junior Lee Brooks, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said.

Brooks also reported on the program Take Your Professor to Lunch. The program, which is jointly put on by the Provost’s Office, SGA and General Education, is designed to help students form relationships with their professors outside the classroom.  An SGA member will go to a large class, explain the program to the students and then pick about seven students to have a free lunch with their professor at Madison Grill.

“This year we have been to 20 classrooms so far and we hope to reach 50 by the end of the year,” Brooks said.