March Madness!!! Bush Administration Rolls Back Title IX
Washington, DC – The Bush Administration's Department of Education has quietly changed the rules for compliance with Title IX, the statute that bars sex discrimination in athletics at federally funded institutions. President Bush has repeatedly praised the role of women in athletics. Yet these new changes by the Bush Administration undermine the prospects for women's athletics.
In response to these rule changes DNC Spokesperson Josh Earnest issued the following statement:
"For more than three decades now, Title IX has opened the door to a college education for thousands of young women and has ensured they have the opportunity to participate and excel in collegiate athletics. These young women athletes have gone on to enjoy successful careers and to serve as valuable role models for America's next generation of ambitious young women.
"For President Bush to praise the impact of Title IX during his campaign, then announce five months later that he is undermining the program does a grave disservice not only to competitive collegiate athletics, but also to future generations of young American women."
The DNC also released the following research document regarding Title IX and the Bush Administration.
Last Friday afternoon, as the women's NCAA basketball tournament got underway, Bush's Department of Education issued rules pertaining to federal Title IX regulations that require gender equity in school sports programs. The new rules would allow institutions to avoid offering sports opportunities to women if a sufficient number of the student body failed to respond to an email survey expressing interest in the program. This new rule provides a backdoor to let colleges and universities deny important athletic opportunities to American young women.
"I love the idea of heralding women's athletics." [Bush Remarks to WNBA Champions Houston Comets, 5/14/01]
NEW BUSH RULES CREATE LOOPHOLE IN TITLE IX PROVISIONS
Under Newly Issued Rules, Higher Education Institutions Can Drop Women's Sports Programs If An Email Survey Fails to Demonstrate Sufficient Student Body Interest. "In a move that could make it easier for colleges to show that their sports offerings for women comply with law, the Education Department has quietly issued a new clarification of the regulations interpreting Title IX. … The clarification, which was posted Friday afternoon on the department's Web site, is being criticized by women's advocacy groups as a weakening of Title IX's protection of a right to equality in collegiate sports opportunities. … Under the new clarification, colleges can demonstrate that they are satisfying the demand for women's sports by taking an online survey showing that female students have no unmet sports interests. The Education Department says they may use e-mail to notify students of the survey and must offer it in a way designed to generate high response rates -- as part of the registration process, for example. But, the department said, even if the nonresponse rate is high, nonresponse will be interpreted as a lack of interest." [New York Times, 3/23/05]
NCAA President Says Rules Could "Reverse the Progress Made Over the Last Three Decades. "NCAA President Myles Brand joined in condemning the guidelines, saying they could ‘reverse the progress made over the last three decades.' He added his disappointment that officials issued the clarification ‘without benefit of public discussion and input.'" [Los Angeles Times, 3/23/05]
FLASHBACK: BUSH COMMISSION TRIED TO DESTROY TITLE IX IN 2002
Bush Commission Recommended Undermining Title IX Rules. In June 2002, Bush's Education Secretary Roderick Paige created the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to review Title IX, the federal law that has expanded athletic opportunities for women and girls for 30 years by barring sexual discrimination. This January the commission came back with recommendations that would ease the regulations of Title IX. A statement by the National Women's Law Center opposed the Bush Commission's proposals, "Some have characterized the Commission's long list of proposed changes as minor and moderate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Make no mistake about it. If accepted by the Bush Administration, the Commission's proposals would dramatically reduce the sports participation opportunities and scholarships to which women and girls are entitled under the law." [Washington Post, 6/27/02; New York Times, 1/31/03; NWLC Statement, 2/5/03, http://www.nwlc.org]
