For perhaps the first time in 30 years, Title IX and proportionality may actually favor male athletes.    Liberty Univ., located in Lynchburg, Va., is out of compliance with Title IX, carrying 7.4% more female athletes than males as compared to school enrollment. Current Office of Civil Rights interpretations indicate that for an institution to be in proportion, the athlete-to-student ratio must be within 1%.    Clearly stated, Liberty Univ. needs to make an adjustment in favor of men's athletics in order to be in compliance with Title IX.    In 1997, the 25th anniversary of Title IX, the National Women's Law Center listed the 25 colleges and universities out of proportion with Title IX and filed a legal complaint against them. Liberty was on that list. From 1997 until last year, athletics officials put in place a system that added scholarships to each women's team. The school is now out of proportion on the women's side.    "Adding wrestling is one of our options, but it is not necessarily the main option," stated Kim Graham, Athletics Director at Liberty. "The Office for Civil Rights says we need to be within 1% of our enrollment numbers. Currently, we are at 7.4% on the women's side. It's not that bad of a deal. I am not embarrassed to say that we offer more athletic scholarships and opportunities to women than men."    "We are interested in bringing back the sport of wrestling to Liberty University," Graham added.    Liberty carried a wrestling program from 1974 until 1994, when the program was reportedly dropped due to financial reasons. Graham was the Assistant Athletics Director at the time. Warren Stewart captured a Division II national title in 1988 at 142 lbs., the only male NCAA champion in Liberty's history.    Graham noted that there are three options currently being considered to meet Title IX proportionality. The first is to add a men's sport. The second is to shift money from the women's programs to the men's programs. The third is to get men to use more of their athletic aid instead of institutional aid, meaning that men's athletic teams would be encouraged to give more full athletic scholarships instead of using a combination of financial aid and academic scholarships to help make up the difference.    This can pose somewhat of a problem, especially if an athlete on a full athletic scholarship is injured during the course of his career. If his athletic scholarship is cut and he becomes ineligible for certain academic scholarships due to enrollment status or other reasons, he will have missed opportunities that could have been available to him out of high school.    Jeff Helgeson, Co-Chairman of the Liberty Wrestling Foundation and a former Liberty wrestler, agrees.    "If a kid can get an academic scholarship out of high school, he needs to go after that. There is more of a guarantee with that type of scholarship than with an athletic scholarship. Also, having extra money around an athletics department can only help to create a budget surplus, which would help all sports involved with the university," Helgeson said.    The Liberty Wrestling Foundation has worked diligently to contact Liberty wrestling alumni and to help raise money towards the possible addition of a men's wrestling program. To date, the group has been in contact with over 240 Liberty alumni and has received nearly $20,000 in gifts and pledges.    Graham and university President Dr. John Borek have set an April 15 deadline for the group to raise $100,000 towards the start of a wrestling program at Liberty. The group must also prove that they can continue to raise $100,000 on an annual basis towards the funding of the program.    "I think it is a somewhat realistic goal," Helgeson said. "We have some financially-secure alumni and the state of Virginia has a strong wrestling following, so we feel that this is something that can be met."    Liberty's Chancellor, Dr. Jerry Falwell, has given his support to reinstating a wrestling team at the school. Falwell has stated that he will recommend that Liberty establish an interim committee to advise the administration on the "re-creation of a full-blown Liberty wrestling program."    Falwell added that the Liberty Wrestling Foundation has received "alumni support unlike anything I have ever seen before for a new program. If we are going to bring wrestling back, we need to make a quick decision so that we can publicize this... thus recruiting many wrestlers for our first year back."    Another uplifting sign for the foundation has been the words of Borek, who has long been a supporter of the sport of wrestling.    "Wrestling is dear to my heart," Borek stated. "One of my best friends has three sons, all of whom wrestled and were state champions in New Jersey. One is a medical doctor today, thanks in part to wrestling."    Helgeson feels that it is a very positive sign for the wrestling community and the Liberty Wrestling Foundation to get support from two high-ranking school officials. The group has also received support from two of the four university vice-presidents.    "The reinstatement effort has received the administration's attention and their confidence," Helgeson said. "The key now will be for the Liberty Wrestling Foundation to retain that confidence by exceeding their expectations."    The Liberty Wrestling Foundation is accepting gifts and pledges towards the start of another wrestling program. A tax-deductible account has been established for contributions. Helgeson has stated that "all contributions will be returned in the event that wrestling is not reinstated" and that "100% of the funds raised would only be used for wrestling."    Supporters of a new wrestling program at Liberty may send contributions to the Liberty Wrestling Foundation, P.O. Box 102, Lynchburg, VA, 24505-0102.    Liberty is a Christian college that outlines the philosophy and principles designed to promote a positive Christian environment, according to the school's web site. The school offers programs in Biblical Studies, Business, Ministry & Mission and Law among others.    Ben Peterson, a 1972 Olympic gold medalist and current head coach at Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wis., is confident that there is a heavy demand for Christian schools by all athletes, including wrestlers.    "My involvement in college coaching and 26 years of directing Camp of Champs Wrestling Camps has clearly shown that there is a great need and desire for young men to attend a Christian college where there are opportunities to wrestle," Peterson said.    The state of Virginia currently supports six NCAA Division I wrestling programs: George Mason, James Madison, Old Dominion, Virginia, V.M.I. and Virginia Tech. Liberty officials have expressed an interest in joining the Southern Conference, meaning a wrestling team at Liberty would compete at the Division I level and immediately become eligible for postseason competition.    The state of Virginia is also a very strong wrestling state at the youth and high school levels and has produced many top college wrestlers.    There are 232 high schools in Virginia currently sponsor wrestling programs with over 6,200 athletes competing.  At the 2002 NCAA Division I Championships in Albany, N.Y., seven Virginia natives qualified for the event. One, Oklahoma's Nate Parker, earned All-American status. In 2000, Oklahoma's Byron Tucker, also a native of Virginia, captured the 174-pound NCAA title.    Liberty is currently a member of the Big South Conference, and depending on the sport, compete at either the Division I or Division I-AA level.    Graham is expected to make a recommendation within the next 30 days to Borek about how the school plans to deal with its proportionality situation.    Liberty sponsors 10 men's sports and eight women's sports. Men's sports at Liberty are football, volleyball, soccer, cross country, basketball, indoor and outdoor track & field, baseball, golf and tennis. Women's sports are volleyball, soccer, cross country, basketball, indoor and outdoor track & field, softball and tennis.    If the program is reinstated, it would mark the second Division I wrestling program to be