From:  J Robinson Camps[SMTP:JRobinsonCamps@TheWrestlingMall.com]
Reply To:  JRobinsonCamps@TheWrestlingMall.com
Sent:  Thursday, October 26, 2000 10:56 AM
Subject:  Wrestling fans unite for the prize

Dear Wrestling Fan,

Whether you are voting age, or not, if you are a true fan of wrestling
please read the following information that will have an impact on your
sport.

CANDIDATE POSITIONS

QUESTION
The February 25, 2000 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a
section with responses from the presidential candidates on a number of
issues. Here are the responses for the Title IX question. Has the
federal government gone too far in enforcing Title IX, the federal
gender-bias law, in college sports? Should federal law assume that
colleges must have an equal proportion of male and female students
playing on sports teams?

BUSH RESPONSE:
I support Title IX. Title IX has opened up opportunities for young women
in both academics and sports, and I think that's terrific. I do not
support a system of quotas or strict proportionality that pits one group
against another. We should support a reasonable approach to Title IX
that seeks to expand opportunities for women rather than destroy
existing men's teams.

GORE RESPONSE:
It is important that schools provide women with the same variety and
quality of sports that men are now provided with. The intention of the
law is to increase access and variety to women, and not to take
opportunity away from men. However, some schools have chosen to cut
men's teams to meet this requirement. It must be left up to the
individual colleges to decide how they wish to handle compliance with
the law. While some institutions may elect to cut men's sports to comply
with the substantial-proportionality provision of the law, numerous
other factors may contribute to this decision, such as financial
viability, a team's likelihood of staying competitive, changes in
athletic-conference priorities, to name a few. I continue to support the
intent of Title IX. As a father of three daughters and one son, I would
like to think that all of my children will have equal opportunity as
they go through college, and beyond.

Comment:
The Bush response dovetails very closely with the goals of the wrestling
community. It recognizes the good part of Title IX, expanding
opportunities for females, and it also addresses the quota part of Title
IX in a direct common sense manner. The Gore response blames schools for
cutting men's sports. It fails to acknowledge that in fact it is the
policies of the Clinton/Gore administration and it's Department Of
Education that force schools into the difficult choice of either meeting
the gender quota imposed on them or losing their federal money. Faced
with that choice, schools will cut men's teams in order to meet the
quota every time.

I have had and will continue to have conversations with the candidate
and members of his policy staff and am confident that the enforcement of
Title IX under a Bush administration would be dramatically different
than under the current Clinton/Gore administration. I am confident that
a Bush administration would do away with the quota and still encourage
more opportunities for women to compete in sports but not at the expense
of opportunities for men to participate in sports.
 

PLEASE VOTE.

THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN, THE EXISTANCE OF WRESLTING AND ALL OTHER MINOR
SPORTS IS AT STAKE!