Gov't Takes Controversial Stance on College Sports

July 11, 2005 — -- The U.S. Department of Education is standing firm on new Title IX guidelines, which critics say will hurt women's sports.

Opponents say a recent agency clarification of the 1972 law that bans gender discrimination in education was put together in secrecy because it would never receive public approval. The new guidance is important because it sets the standards by which schools determine whether they are complying with the law.

"What they've done is unilaterally and under cover of darkness implement changes they could not have adopted in the light of day," said Jocelyn Samuels, vice president for education and employment at the National Women's Law Center.

But the department's Office of Civil Rights, which enforces Title IX, says that is simply incorrect, and it does not plan to modify the clarification to appease opponents.

"Some would have you believe this is a retooling of Title IX," said Jim Manning, assistant secretary of civil rights. "It is not. It is simply a tool that schools can choose to use or not."

At issue is a new policy that allows schools to use an e-mail survey to gauge the athletic interest of the student body, and to use the results to justify budget decisions for male and female athletic programs. To read more about the debate, Click Here.

The OCR's March clarification was quietly posted on its Web site on the afternoon of Friday, March 17.

While the OCR does not know of any school that has used its model survey yet, Monmouth University, a Division I-A school in Long Branch, N.J., conducted its own survey last year. Both advocates and the opponents point to the results as justification for their own position.

Clarification opponents note that less than 10 percent of Monmouth's student body responded to the survey and the results did not accurately represent the interests of current female athletes, let alone any that might matriculate in the future.

"The scary part of all of this, is that statistics can be interpreted in a million different ways," said Monmouth athletics director Marilyn McNeil, who was dissatisfied with the results. "I think people could look at this as a way to show that they should spend all this money on football because you have a survey that says that 2,000 people are interested in football."

But Manning pointed out that even among the few students who responded, 19 women indicated they were interested in volleyball and Monmouth should be providing them with that opportunity. He said the survey worked because it identified an interest in athletics that had been unaddressed.

Some who favor the clarification argue that it can help schools remain in compliance with Title IX without cutting male sports. They say if the survey is not perfect, modify it.

"If the test that the Bush government has come up with is not a good test, let's fix the test. Don't throw it out," said Bob Groseth, men's swimming coach at Northwestern. "Let's fix it so everyone can embrace it."

But the OCR says there will be no compromise; the clarification will remain as is, and starting this school year, schools can choose to administer the survey to the student body.

Manning said he expects the survey to help create new opportunities for female athletes, but conceded some women's sports may be cut.

"Title IX is a piece of education legislation that impacts all kinds of academic programs and schools make all kinds of decisions," Manning said.

Manning emphasized that schools can still use two other means of satisfying Title IX such as providing proportionally equal opportunities for men and women or by showing a history of increasing the number of opportunities provided. The survey is merely another option, he said.

"Schools can decide not to go that route," Manning said. "That's their call."

He also said the OCR depends on organizations like the National Collegiate Athletic Association and faculty at the schools to ensure the survey questions would accurately gauge interest of current students and any students who might be attracted to the school in the future.

The NCAA has come out against the clarification and advised its member schools not to use it.

"I think it is in the schools' interest to continue to abide by the standards of the 1996 clarification as enunciated by the court and reaffirmed just two years ago by the Department of Education," said Samuels, of the National Women's Law Center. The 1996 clarification says surveys can be used as one of a number of factors in determining interest, but not on their own.

Until a survey is actually administered, the clarification's actual ramifications will remain a matter of debate. The only clear part of the current dialogue is that everyone claims to have the same goal in mind: opportunity for athletes.

"It's exactly the same argument," Groseth said. "They're all athletes -- male, female, whatever. Let's give as many people a chance to develop skills and character. They're not only physical skills. They're skills to be good people."