Letters to the Editor (Editorial Policies)
Posted on January 16, 2007

BOV should serve students, consider Title IX postponement

On Friday, Jan. 12, members of James Madison University’s Board of Visitors revisited their Sept. 2006 decision to eliminate 10 sports teams in order to comply with Title IX’s proportionality requirement. JMU’s athletes and campus leaders have asked the administration to postpone the fateful day until 2010, so that students currently enrolled at JMU can finish their athletic careers without needing to transfer.

There is no doubt that Title IX’s proportionality regulation is unreasonable and unfair. It creates an inflexible gender quota system that forces schools to apply numerical limits on men’s sports teams. Unfortunately, JMU has joined other schools across the country that are dropping teams as they feel increasing pressure to comply with the gender quota. However, many of those schools have granted the very reprieve to their athletes that the JMU students have requested, so the proposal to keep the teams in play until 2010 is not without precedent.

JMU should do what is right — allow the students the full benefit of their athletic experience. Postpone the elimination until 2010, and in the meantime, the College Sports Council and its national coalition of reformers will work to end the gender quota and save the teams. Title IX’s gender quota is unreasonable and unfair. This is an opportunity for the BOV to demonstrate to everyone that the individuals who lead JMU are themselves reasonable and fair, by letting the teams play out to 2010. The CSC asks the BOV to play fair, don’t blow the whistle on the athletes before their game is over.

Eric Pearson, chairman, College Sports Council, Washington, D.C.

The ‘real world’ is real life, and it is time to get over it

Gee golly, shucks mister! I thought that life after college was going to be peachy keen! Fortunately, last week’s swell editorial about “Life after Harrisonburg,” set me straight.

If you were not convinced by our classmate’s depiction of the real world, I am here to inform you there is hope.

However, before you discount me as a rambling editorialist, know that I too have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly of working for the government.

While it is true that there are unpleasantries that accompany graduating, there are also positive aspects. But, in order to make the most out of your transition, you may have to readjust your thinking.

Primarily, you must realign your expectations. You are mighty naïve to believe life outside of college is made of sunshine and lollipops. Everyone starts at the bottom, and we all have to go through the experience of eating a mile of crap before tasting the sugar.

It is also a mistake to assume the working world is analogous to “Dante’s Inferno.” Life is what you make of it. You can choose to trouble yourself with the actions of others or you can rise above them. If you do not like your commute or your job, then experience it long enough to learn from it and move on.

The best thing about graduating is that there is a built-in community of people who are experiencing the same jagged transition who can laugh, cry and gripe right along with you.

Ashley Eisenman, senior political science/SMAD major