Title IX Reform Takes Center Court
"This is an administration that has gone after Title IX hammer and tongs," says Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. A "clarification" letter on Title IX's athletic standards released last year reminded schools that proportionality was not the only way to comply with Title IX–and offered "further guidance" on using other methods, including providing a sample E-mail survey that schools could use to prove their compliance. McCarthy cheered the clarification letter as "a small step in the right direction."
Defenders of the status quo take a far different view. NCAA President Myles Brand says the clarification letter represents "a failure that will likely stymie the growth of women's athletics and could reverse the progress over the last three decades." And even more progress, say the law's defenders, is needed. According to a 2002 NCAA report, male athletes still receive $208 million a year more in scholarships than women. Moreover, defenders say Title IX should not be blamed for cuts to men's sports. According to a recent survey by the Government Accountability Office, the No. 1 reason for cutting sports was lack of interest, not Title IX.
A host of other changes–like slimming down spending on other men's sports–could have let the school accommodate all athletes without violating the law. "Sure," agrees Jeffrey Bourne, JMU's athletic director. "If I were willing to reduce the number of scholarships that were allocated in my men's football team, there may have been options for us–but then I would have put them at a competitive disadvantage...and I'm not willing to do that." After the cuts, said Donna Lopiano, CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation, JMU's football and basketball programs will account for 60 percent of athletic participation opportunities.
If the department rewrites Title IX rules on athletics, it will be only the latest concern for women's groups, which cried foul last month when Spellings announced new rules that open up the possibility of single-sex education in public schools. To Jocelyn Samuels of the National Women's Law Center, the new regulations add up to an "under-the-radar attempt to gut Title IX standards." She has vowed to bring legal challenges against public schools that enact single-sex reform. If athletic regulations came next, she said, "all options would be on the table."
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