Mr. Greller, in his Nov. 6 Viewpoint, "On Guard; title IX hurts club sports," is generally correct that Title IX does not favor club sports. However, to blame Tufts, the Department of Athletics, or specific Tufts teams is not the way to help the fencing team earn varsity recognition.
Title IX regulations are mandated by the NCAA. Were Tufts not to adhere to this rule, we would lose NCAA recognition. Unfortunately, for less mainstream sports, such as fencing, there is simply not enough money to go around.
Theoretically, Tufts could cut the football team, which has by far the most players and funding of any sport on campus. This would create more than enough room for men's fencing. It would also remove America's most watched and Tufts' oldest sport from our campus. This is not a practical solution. For changes in Title IX, Mr. Greller's beef should be with the NCAA, not with the Tufts administration.
Regardless of his opinions about the fencing team's lack of recognition, which I honestly sympathize with, I take personal offense to diminishing the accomplishments of other Tufts teams to bemoan the lack of coverage of club teams. The Daily routinely covers the accomplishments of club teams (note the recent articles about the women's rugby team). I am positive that they will print an article about men's fencing if Mr. Geller submitted one, or alerted Daily editors to their tournaments and results.
To suggest that a fencing headline was "stolen" by a golf headline is lunacy. There are several club teams on campus who continually succeed at the New England and national levels, such as rugby, ultimate frisbee, and equestrian. These teams do not complain about a lack of press coverage.
Just to be sure, the golf team finished 26th out of 48 teams at the New England Championships, the largest golf tournament in the country. Of these 48 teams, less than half were from Division III; the other teams being Division I (where athletic scholarships are permissible) and Division II (which have substantially lower admissions criteria) schools. While we did not dominate, and could well have placed higher, I am proud of our team's performance.
Mr. Greller writes, "A criterion must exist, if it isn't performance, what is it? How do varsity teams defend their continued existence if they do at all?" The criteria involved in selecting a varsity sport are widespread, and popularity is definitely among them. Unfortunately for Mr. Greller, golf and football are more popular than fencing.
Further, I will not "defend the continued existence" of either team that I play on, or of any other team, varsity, or club at Tufts. Such defense is unnecessary because these are legitimate teams whose athletes work hard for their achievements, which are usually covered, but sometimes not covered, by the Daily.
Maybe they take more satisfaction out of training, competition, and success than recognition in the school paper. Perhaps Mr. Greller should spend more time preparing for his next fencing tournament than linking an article about Title IX by a sports editor to the lack of headlines his men's fencing troupe grabs in the Daily.
Daniel Kramer is a junior majoring in economics and political science. He is the captain of the golf team and a letterman on the men's lacrosse team.
