149. That’s how many more varsity spots are open to men than women at Gustavus.

149 more opportunities to compete at varsity level college athletics, despite the fact that the student body is about 54 percent female and 46 percent male.

According to a report from the U.S. Department of Education, Gustavus had 411 male varsity athletes in the 2014-15 school year and only 262 female varsity athletes.

That means that 62 percent of all varsity athletes at Gustavus are male and only 38 percent are female.

Looking at these numbers it is obvious there is a disparity occurring.

This inequity brings to mind a rather infamous portion of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title IX.

From where I stand, Gustavus is not currently meeting the requirements for any of the three parts.

Title IX was enacted to ensure that no educational program receiving federal financial assistance would discriminate or deny participation to an individual based on sex.

Title IX has many applications, one of which is to ensure that women receive equal opportunity in sports.

To determine compliance there is a three-part test. Institutions receiving federal funding (such as Gustavus) must meet at least one part to achieve compliance.

Part one requires that participation opportunities for men and women be “substantially proportionate” to their respective undergraduate enrollment.

Part two requires an institution to demonstrate a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented sex, in this case female. This is achieved by proving a history and continued practice of program expansion.

Part three requires an institution to accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex, even when there are disproportionally fewer females than males participating in sports.

From where I stand, Gustavus is not currently meeting the requirements for any of the three parts. As mentioned in the first paragraph, opportunities for men and women are not substantially proportionate at Gustavus.

There are proportionally more men competing in sports than women. Thus Gustavus does not pass part one.

Gustavus also does not have a history of expanding women’s athletics.

In the past, Gustavus has tried to cut the women’s varsity gymnastics team and in 2014 did succeed in cutting the women’s varsity nordic ski team.

Thus Gustavus does not pass part two. Finally, in my opinion, Gustavus does not accommodate the interests and abilities of female athletes at Gustavus.

For example, when the women’s varsity nordic ski team was cut, Gustavus took away the opportunity for the current members of the team, and any potential future members, to compete at a varsity level in nordic skiing at Gustavus.

They could no longer ski in any conference races, compete at Regionals or qualify for Nationals.

Gustavus cut this team despite the fact that Minnesota has one of the largest high school leagues for nordic skiing in the country and despite the fact that there were many girls on campus interested in competing.

There was interest and ability, and yet the team was still demoted to a club, leaving the members unable to compete at the varsity level.

On the other side of the scale, the men’s varsity sports on campus have more spots available than ever.

The football team has over 100 members, the men’s hockey team has over 60 members (2.5 times as many members as the women’s hockey team), and the men’s soccer team has around 45 members (double the women’s team).

If it seems like there is something wrong here, it’s because there is.

Reduce the men’s soccer team to the same size as the women’s team and about $30,000 is freed up, $1,300 per player, enough to reinstate and fund the women’s nordic ski team or invest in adding an additional varsity team for women, such as lacrosse.

And that’s just from shifting the funds over from one men’s team.

Redistributing funding more equitably between men’s and women’s varsity programs would be a relatively simple way for Gustavus to create more varsity athletic opportunities for women and work towards compliance with Title IX.

In the same vein, Gustavus could alternatively increase funding for women’s programs and raise their varsity openings and offerings to reflect those of the men’s programs. Either way, what you spend your money on is indicative of your values and Gustavus should equally value both men’s and women’s sports.

If we don’t have this equity, it becomes much harder to encourage and provide enough opportunities for women to compete in higher level sports. Opportunity breeds interest.

It’s easy to sit back and claim that women just aren’t as interested in competing in sports as men, but if you never provide the chance how do you know?

Women’s sports are more popular than ever and that increase in participation should be reflected in the opportunities offered by college athletics.

Take a look at what happened in Rio this summer. . .

The 2016 Rio Olympics saw the most women competitors in the history of the Games, 45% of all participants were female.

When women were first allowed to compete in the Olympics in 1900, they only made up 2.2 percent of all competitors.

Not only are women’s sports more popular than ever, they are also more successful than ever.

The U.S. women won 27 of the 46 American gold medals, more than the U.S. men or China.

In fact, if the U.S. women were to stand alone as their own country, they would have tied Britain for the most gold medals.

These women athletes would likely not have reached the success they did or even made it to the Olympics at all if they hadn’t had the opportunity to compete at lower level athletics, such as college varsity.

Varsity athletics foster confidence, strong values, drive, leadership, and many other skills vital for success.

These opportunities should not be limited or placed out of reach because of a person’s sex.

Women deserve the same chance as men to participate in and benefit from varsity athletics, and Gustavus should make it a part of their mission to actively and equitably expand and promote such programs for women.

Perfection and exact equality is likely an unrealistic expectation, but we can strive for fairness and as a community decide not to act based on bias.

Working towards compliance with Title IX might not be the perfect solution to this issue, but it’s a pretty darn good place to start.