California holds hearings on Title IX Compliance at UC schools

The Contra Costa Times reported on last Friday's hearing in the California state legislature regarding Title IX compliance at the University of California. State Senator Dean Florez, who heads the Senate Select Committee on Gender Discrimination, questioned university administrators on the history of lawsuits alleging gender discrimination at various campuses. Senator Florez discussed the possibility of passing a state statute mirroring Title IX's mandate, in order to increase pressure on universities to bring their athletic programs into compliance with the proportionality prong of Title IX.

University administrators maintained that their ongoing difficulties stemmed primarily from a limit to the number of sports played by women at west coast universities. This last claim is a curious one, and I wonder if other west coast schools have claimed to struggle with the proportionality prong of Title IX for the same reason.