On April 16, the trustees at Miami of Ohio voted unanimously to eliminate their men's wrestling, soccer and tennis teams. For those involved in wrestling, this is especially painful, as college administrators have often targeted the sport as part of their slashing. There are many reasons that wrestling is often a victim, one being that there is not yet a matching women's program for the sport on the college level. However, at three of the four institutions noted above, more than one men's programs were wiped out at the same time. This is not a wrestling problem - it is a wholesale dumping of male opportunity, caused by an overbearing quota system.
Every case is different, based upon the individual situation on each campus.
We will take a quick look at each of these noted cases, especially in regards to the wrestling programs. It is important to remember that these are not the only four colleges to cut teams in recent weeks, and the odds indicate that more will be sacrificed in upcoming weeks. Clearly, the financial savings are relatively insignificant in the overall picture, and could have been achieved in other ways than axing teams. Therefore, the discontinuation of the sports only assists the athletic department by bringing its gender head-count closer to the proportionality quota. There are no new opportunities for women mentioned as part of the plan.