The other side of Title IX: Bowling Green eliminates four men's sports

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green will eliminate four men&#39;s sports to comply with a federal law designed to equalize the money colleges spend on men&#39;s and women&#39;s teams. <br> <br> Men&#39;s tennis, swimming and indoor and outdoor track and field will be dropped starting in the fall, the school said Thursday. The move will cut 55 scholarships and save $360,000 each year, athletic director Paul Krebs said. <br> <br> &#34;This has been an extremely difficult and heart-wrenching decision,&#34; said Krebs, who added that the university had been talking about eliminating sports for at least three years. <br> <br> The decision leaves the school with eight men&#39;s sports and 11 women&#39;s sports. <br> <br> According to Title IX, a 1972 federal law, schools must offer scholarships roughly equal to the number of men and women on campus. About 56 percent of the students at Bowling Green are women. <br> <br> Athletes on the teams cut will keep their scholarships through the next school year. <br> <br> Complying with gender equity laws has been a challenge for schools in the Mid-American Conference. Miami of Ohio dropped three teams in 1999, prompting male athletes to sue the school. <br> <br> Bowling Green already had dropped wrestling and men&#39;s lacrosse. <br> <br>