It Takes Two to Tango...

More news about Clemson's pregnant athletes possibly losing scholarship. On the school's athletic website, athletic director Terry Don Phillips said that coach Marcia Noad had included the following clause as part of the team's written rules: "Pregnancy resulting in the inability to compete and positively contribute to the program's success will result in the modification of your grant-in-aid money. Please consult your coaching staff immediately to discuss."
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 - 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. The most prominent public face of Title IX is its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, the original statute made no reference to athletics.
So I suppose the question becomes, does removing a scholarship from a female who becomes pregnant violate Title IX. Since only females become pregnant, this will be lumped into discrimination based on sex. Is modifying the aid money the athlete receives excluding them from the benefit of the educational program or activity (namely an athletic scholarship)? The first hurdle is being able to discuss this issue as a male without being labeled a male chauvinist. I recently had a conversation about this issue with a self-described liberal feminist, and it was pointed out to me that since men cannot become pregnant there can not be an equivalent comparison to make the determination of discrimination or equality. Denying a female who becomes pregnant the opportunity to participate in any scholastic or athletic program in a State sponsored college or university clearly violates Title IX and is not in the spirit of this statute. Although it must be acknowledged that the student athlete receiving aid made a commitment to their institution and is receiving the aid based on their participation in that program. Should there be any repercussions based on a student athlete's actions? This is a difficult issue that is not going away.

On a lighter note

Dog Nurses Tiger Triplets at China Zoo.










You may remember this story last year, a depressed tiger in zoo who lost its cubs being given little piglets dressed up like tigers. A popular but untrue story. This story even made it to local news networks, including my local Pittsburgh Channel 11 news, disregarding the fact that the truth was only a click away if someone was doing even a minimal amount of fact checking. So who knows, this story may make snopes before you know it.




Holy Crap of the Day - Daycare shut down after infants found crying in storage closet.

Where is this heading? The government has overturned its proposed ban on the creation of human-animal embryos ... scientists would be allowed to grow the embryos in a lab for no more than two weeks, and it would be illegal to implant them in a human.

Immigration Legislation News of the Day - The Bush administration and a bipartisan group of senators reached agreement yesterday on a sprawling overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would bring an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants out of society's shadows while stiffening border protections and cracking down on employers of undocumented workers. The Senate deal would grant temporary legal status to virtually all illegal immigrants in the country, while allowing them to apply for residence visas and eventual citizenship. A temporary-worker program would allow as many as 400,000 migrants into the country each year, but they would have to leave after two years. And the current visa system, which stresses family ties, would be augmented by a complex point system that would favor skilled, educated workers. Most of those changes would take effect only after the implementation of tough new border controls and a crackdown on the employment of undocumented workers.

Ambiguously Gay Moment of the Day