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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
by Adam Freedman
Today’s topic: Rah, Rah, Federal Law! Is cheerleading a sport? Learn what federal law has to say about cheerleading and why it matters to schools across the country.
And now, your daily dose of legalese: This article does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. In other words, although I am a lawyer, I’m not your lawyer. In fact, we barely know each other. If you need personalized legal advice, contact an attorney in your community.
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Is Cheerleading a Sport?
A federal judge recently held that competitive cheerleading at the university level does not count as a “sport.” Why does that matter? The quick and dirty answer is that the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX requires schools and universities to achieve roughly equal participation1 for men and women in “sports.” This decision will change how some colleges comply with that law.
What Is Title IX?
Title IX of the Educational Amendments2 Act of 1972 is designed to protect students from discrimination on the basis of sex. The statute3 says that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Title IX’s mandate4 applies to a wide range of programs at high schools and colleges including such things as admissions, recruitment, financial aid, academic programs, student treatment and services, counseling and guidance, discipline, classroom assignment, grading, and vocational education.
Title IX and School Sports
But the aspect of the Title IX that seems to get the most attention is its application to sports. In regulations over the years, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (or OCR) has made it clear that Title IX requires “equal opportunities” for male and female participation in school athletics6.
The OCR will look at a variety of factors to determine whether a school or university has provided equal opportunities in athletics. One of the factors is whether the level of participation in athletics among men and women is “substantially proportionate” to their respective levels of enrollment7. And for these purposes, “athletics” means “varsity sports.” It doesn’t help a school to show that the female students have access to workout facilities.
So the bottom line is that if half of the student body is female, then the Department of Education expects roughly half of the varsity athletes to be female. There are other factors, of course, and there are ways for a school to account for any disparity in sports participation, but still, schools now aim to achieve varsity sports programs that mirror the student population.
Why Is Title IX Controversial?
That sounds like a great thing, but in practice there are some controversial aspects of the law. Critics charge that the regulations have turned Title IX from a law that requires equality of opportunity to one that requires equality of results. In addition, nothing in the law requires schools or universities to have a particular number or size of sports teams. That has lead to some interesting results. To achieve equal levels of sports participation, some schools and universities have simply cut the number or size of sports programs for men--thus decreasing opportunities for males without doing anything for females.
Other institutions, such as Quinnipiac University in Connecticut created competitive cheerleading squads8 and elevated cheerleading to the level of a varsity sport. However, due to the expense of creating the cheerleading team, the university had to cut its women’s volleyball team. It was this decision that sparked the federal lawsuit9 that has led to the first ever judicial10 ruling on whether cheerleading is a sport.
Why Is Cheerleading Not a Sport?
As I already mentioned, the judge said that competitive cheerleading is not a sport. The judge relied on OCR regulations that spell out the characteristics of a “sport.” These include:
The existence of a governing body, such as an intercollegiate conference
Defined seasons
Rules
Practices, and
Intercollegiate competitions
The judge conceded that competitive cheerleading did possess some of these qualities. Indeed, Quinnipiac and seven other schools had recently formed a governing body called the National Competitive Stunts11 and Tumbling Association. But ultimately the judge decided12 that competitive cheerleading is “still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic5 participation opportunities for students.”
Why Cheerleading Being Ruled Not a Sport Matters
But the judge held out hope that competitive cheer may, some day in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX. The irony13 here is that the judge’s ruling has removed much of the incentive14 for schools and universities to nurture15 this sport, since, at least for now, it won’t help them to meet their Title IX quotas16.
Okay, you can probably tell that I’m a little skeptical17 of the judge’s reasoning in this case. Let me know what you think – you can post a comment to the Quick and Dirty Tips website or to Legal Lad’s Facebook page. Bring it on!
Thank you for reading Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful18 Life.
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1 participation | |
n.参与,参加,分享 | |
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2 amendments | |
(法律、文件的)改动( amendment的名词复数 ); 修正案; 修改; (美国宪法的)修正案 | |
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3 statute | |
n.成文法,法令,法规;章程,规则,条例 | |
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4 mandate | |
n.托管地;命令,指示 | |
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5 athletic | |
adj.擅长运动的,强健的;活跃的,体格健壮的 | |
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6 athletics | |
n.运动,体育,田径运动 | |
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7 enrollment | |
n.注册或登记的人数;登记 | |
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8 squads | |
n.(军队中的)班( squad的名词复数 );(暗杀)小组;体育运动的运动(代表)队;(对付某类犯罪活动的)警察队伍 | |
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9 lawsuit | |
n.诉讼,控诉 | |
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10 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
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11 stunts | |
n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 );(广告中)引人注目的花招;愚蠢行为;危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长],抑制,妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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13 irony | |
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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14 incentive | |
n.刺激;动力;鼓励;诱因;动机 | |
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15 nurture | |
n.养育,照顾,教育;滋养,营养品;vt.养育,给与营养物,教养,扶持 | |
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16 quotas | |
(正式限定的)定量( quota的名词复数 ); 定额; 指标; 摊派 | |
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17 skeptical | |
adj.怀疑的,多疑的 | |
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18 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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