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9 Pace Intell. Prop. Sports & Ent. L.F. [i] (2020)

handle is hein.journals/pipself9 and id is 1 raw text is: Good Initiative, Bad Judgement: The Unintended Consequences of Title IX's Proportionality Standard on NCAA Men's Gymnastics and the Transgender Athlete Abstract Title IX fails to provide the tools or guidelines necessary to equalize opportunities for all student athletes in the collegiate setting despite the government's continuous effort to explain the law. This failure is because judicial precedent has largely developed around the binary proportionality test of compliance. Title IX was originally intended to equalize educational opportunities for male and female students in order to remedy past discrimination in our society. However, the application of Title IX has frequently created fewer opportunities in athletics due to the unintended relationship between the proportionality standard and the social phenomenon that is the commercialization of college sports. This comment will highlight recent historical challenges with Title IX's application in college athletics with a focus on men's gymnastics. This comment proposes that the Office for Civil Rights revoke their policy letter outlining the binary proportionality test, so that universities will be incentivized to use more qualitative measures of compliance. Finally, this comment will highlight developing legal issues with the application of the binary proportionality test on transgender athletes. Keywords Title IX, student, athletes, transgender, men, gymnastics, college, sports, equality, educational, opportunity, civil rights, proportionality Cover Page Footnote J.D. Candidate 2019, Texas A&M School of Law, MBA Webster University, BA Temple University, Marine Corps Veteran. This article is the result of numerous consultations with faculty and friends over the past three years. I thank Professor John Murphy for agreeing to supervise and advise me as I wrote this article. I thank Professor Kristen Rowlett for guiding me on my final edits and the publication process. I also want to thank the honorable Judge Bonnie Goldstein for allowing me to research this topic during my internship with her court. Additionally, I want to thank Shelli Koszdin, Susan Borschel, Sean Monaco, Clay Stewart, Chris Werner, and Dick Aronson, for their assistance and guidance with my research. Furthermore, I also thank Dean James McGrath, Professors Meg Penrose, Brian Holland, Franklin Snyder, Neal Newman, Lisa Rich, Angela Morrison, Gabriel Eckstein, Malikah Hall, Aaron Retteen, Wayne Barnes, and Susan Fortney, for discussing my topic with me so that I could refine it and make it more relevant. Additionally, I would like to thank Ethan Hughes, Ian Webb, Cole Dolan, Anjelica Harris, Elise Aldendifer, Jesse Kitzen-Abelson, Carlos Maldonaldo, Daniel Grant, Emily Beard, Scott Beard, Nancy McGee, Chris Weinbel, Ashley Goldman, Dustin Hoffman, Cecelia Morin, Ryne Thacker, Roy Crockett, Sarah Turner, Arild Doerge, and Bryan Wilson, for taking time out of their schedules to read my work and provide constructive criticism and insight. Moreover, I want to give the biggest thank you to my former coaches Fred Turoff, Tom Gibbs, Pete Erickson, and Robert Murphy, for granting me a roster slot on their respective teams. Lastly, I want to thank my parents, John and Virginia Shearer, as well as my wife, Christine Shearer, for reading numerous drafts and providing their input. This article is available in Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum: https://digitaIcommons.pace.edu/pipself/vol9/iss1/1

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