In Title IX news: On November 3, Title IX experts Donna Lopiano, CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation, and Marcia Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women's Law Center, Olympic softball player Jennie Finch, and James Madison University gymnast Allison Truglio, held an audio press conference to discuss JMU's recent decision to cut 10 athletic teams. The remarks countered claims that Title IX is the reason JMU eliminated seven men's and three women's teams.

Said Lopiano in her opening remarks:

[JMU] should have looked at what other schools have done to keep broad athletic programs. 72% of the schools that have incresed opportunities for women did so without cutting any of their men's teams. A large program appears not to have been a priority for JMU. If it were a priority, the first choice always is to fundraise to increase opportunities for the under represented gender, they -- just as they did when they raised money for a new $10 million athletic performance center in 2005 which included extensive upgrades to the football facility.

And if it's worth going out to get $10 million then it seems that opportunities for female athletes and saving men's teams should be worth an effort to go out and get 10 million too.

To read a transcript of the conference, go here. To read the NWCL's fact sheet debunking JMU's claims, go here.