The U.S. Olympic Committee held a historic conference entitled "Addressing the Decline of Olympic Sports Programs in American Colleges and Universities Toward Ensuring Solid American Olympic Performance Beyond Athens." The meeting was held at the University Place Hotel  in Indianapolis, Ind., June 26.    The event was hosted by USOC interim-president Marty Mankamyer and USOC Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Ward, and was organized by Jim Scherr, the USOC Managing Director of Sport Resources and his staff.    Included in the conference were numerous Executive Directors of Olympic National Governing Bodies, USOC staff members, invited guest panelists and members of the NCAA national staff. The conversation was lively and diverse, as the participants discussed the effect of Title IX and the loss of college programs on the performance of the U.S. Olympic movement. Also discussed was the next step, as part of a process to make the necessary changes to support Olympic sports in the college community.    Ward and Mankamyer welcomed the attendees, and set the tone for the meeting by stating that this issue was very important to the U.S. Olympic Committee, and that the organization was committed to taking a leadership role in identifying and solving the problems.    Ward mentioned four Olympic values: 1. Hope; 2. Dreams and inspiration; 3. Friendship and fair play; 4. Joy and Effort.  He noted that how these values were critical to preserving Olympic sports opportunities.     Scherr led the first discussion, a review of the facts and figures regarding the decline in Olympic sports on college campuses. A statistical study with information on participation rates in each NCAA sport, prepared by Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling, was distributed. Scherr explained how the "raw" numbers of athletes in the NCAA was not an accurate way to evaluate participation trends, showing how the NCAA has grown by 262 institutions since 1982. Most of these institutions came from the NAIA and other organizations, which had existing sports programs. Using the raw numbers, said Scherr, under-represents the loss of men's opportunity and overstates the gains in women's opportunities.    Scherr noted that there was still a gap of 60,000 athletes needed to bring women's college athletics to proportionality levels. He noted that for this to happen, there would need to be either 60,000 more women included in college athletics, or 60,000 more men cut, or a combination of the two methods. He cited the exact number of college athletes in the key men's Olympic sports, and explained how further cuts in these men's college sports programs would devastate the Olympic movement.    Three panelists addressed the topic of "Legislative issues: historical activity and prospective opportunity." Steven Bull, the Director of Government Relations of the USOC, presented a historical review of Title IX and its legislative, administrative and judicial  highlights. He also provided information on proposed legislation in Congress, one by Senator Paul Wellstone and another by Congressman Jim Leach, concerning the Olympic movement.    Eric Pearson, Chairman of the College Sports Council, explained the lawsuit filed by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the College Sports council and other groups against the Department of Education concerning its interpretation of Title IX. He provided information about the strengths of the case against the government, and how the groups involved were seeking the elimination of proportionality as one of the enforcement mechanisms for the law. Pearson urged dialogue between all involved with the Title IX issue, and discussed some possible enforcement options if proportionality were eliminated.    Mike Harrington, longtime Olympic leader and former head of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports, provided his colorful perspective on the Title IX dilemma. He noted that many women did not care much about sports many years ago, and that the issue has never been a major thrust of the feminist agenda. He encouraged the cut in waste in college football, but noted that this would not cause the elimination of men's sports due to proportionality. He called for a coalition of National Governing Bodies, working together, both men and women representation, working to get legislative relief for the issue and being involved in any legal efforts required.    In a topic entitled "The NCAA Perspective," Kevin Lennon, the NCAA Vice-President for Membership Services provided information on the structure and operations of the NCAA. He noted the two major issues for college presidents and athletic directors today: academic performance of student-athletes and the financial dilemma of college athletics. He noted that a new economic study would be released by the NCAA in the fall that will pinpoint the financial reality of today's college sports scene.  He also commented on the commitment of the NCAA to "institutional autonomy" in managing its athletic programs. Attendees proposed a new NCAA rule that would require a one-year notice from colleges that they were dropping a sport, a procedure that would allow students, alumni and other interested parties to get involved and have sufficient time to possibly save the program. Also involved in the NCAA discussions was Rosie Stallman, Director of Education Outreach, who is a liaison for the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics and deals with the Title IX issue as part of her job.    The next panel included four U.S. Olympic family Executive Directors whose sports had been negatively impacted by the current Title IX interpretation: Bob Colarossi (USA Gymnastics), Chuck Wielgus (USA Swimming), Rich Bender (USA Wrestling) and Craig Masback (USA Track and Field). All four noted specific information on how their men's sports programs had been injured by the cut in college Olympic sports programs.    Colarossi noted how men's gymnastics had declined to just 20 programs within the NCAA, greatly harming the athlete development pipeline for the Olympics. He also noted the reduction in women's gymnastics teams, in spite of the gain in youth gymnasts. Weilgus noted that the loss of college opportunity for men had caused a loss of boys in the high school and youth programs who did not stay with the sport because of the lack of opportunity in college. Weilgus predicted that if current cuts continued, the medal performance in his sport would be damaged by the 2008 and 2112 Olympic Games.    Bender explained how wrestling has lost 60% of its college programs since the passage of Title IX in 1972. He also noted that this had occurred in spite of consistent growth on the youth and high school levels. He also explained that NCAA regulations made it difficult to start women's wrestling programs on the college level. Masback discussed the challenges for men in his sport, both with cutbacks in programs and tight restrictions on scholarship opportunities. He also noted the problem with foreign athletes taking away scholarships from U.S. athletes in college, then returning to their native country to win Olympic medals.     A session on "The Economics of College and University Sports Programs" featured David Roach, the Athletic Director at Brown University. Brown had defended its athletic decisions in the infamous Cohen vs. Brown case, which has set legal precedents for the Title IX issue. Brown, which provides one of the largest sports programs in the nation, had dropped both men and women's teams for financial reasons, and was sued by women gymnasts for the reinstatement of the women's program. Roach explained how the case progressed and how they lost the court decision. He noted that the university agreed to a plus or minus variance of 3.5 percent with the court, and that he missed his goal by six athletes last year. Brown will be adding another women's varsity team soon, and Roach hopes that he won't have to spend as much staff time and effort "counting people."    Richard Aronson, Executive Director of the Gymnastics Coaches Association, gave a scathing report on the decline of men's opportunity in his sport. He blamed the NCAA for a lack of leadership on this