Iowa State on Monday dropped baseball and men's swimming, perfectly good sports that some will say were slain on the altar of political correctness. In truth, the good lads who toil in the grass and chlorine of Ames were done in by a far superior foe. Gender equity is a mere pup compared to the bottom line. Next school year, Iowa State will pay two employees half a million dollars more than it paid them this season. That money has to come from somewhere.
Most colleges have a publishing house, but few are brazen enough to print money.
Bake sales and autograph raffles won't make up that kind of money. Since women's sports started in the '70s and took hold in the '80s, they have been branded the culprit every time Seton Hall drops wrestling or Pacific drops football. Gender equity and Title IX have become fighting words for male sports played not on gridirons or hardwoods. In truth, women's programs have as much right to exist as Iowa State baseball. The true enemy virus in the outrageous price of doing athletic business is not women's programs, but spiraling costs, led by coaches salaries.