Many Title IX proposals to be scrapped
By Ben Feller
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Rod Paige said yesterday that he would not consider many of the controversial changes proposed for Title IX, the law requiring equal sports opportunities for men and women.
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Paige said he would only consider recommendations that drew unanimous support from his Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. That would kill at least eight of the 23 ideas.
"These recommendations would roll back years of progress in equal opportunity," Rep. Neil Abercrombie said. "They are an attack on the life work of Patsy Mink."
Paige, who had not set a timetable for any decisions, took action within hours of receiving the commission's report.
His move came on a day when critics trumpeted their minority views and commission leaders defended their work as thoughtful, fair and overdue.
Among those attacking the commission's report yesterday was U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, who said changing Title IX would betray the legacy of the late Rep. Patsy MInk.
Mink, D-Hawai'i, was an early advocate of Title IX. After her death in September, Congress agreed to name the act for Mink as a tribute.
"These recommendations would roll back years of progress in equal opportunity," Abercrombie said. "They are an attack on the life work of Patsy Mink. All students, male and female alike, will be better off if Secretary Paige rejects this report."
Paige, in a statement issued late yesterday, said the Education Department would act only on the recommendations unanimously agreed to by all the commissioners.
"I am pleased that the commission, made up of a diverse group of individuals with vastly different points of view, was able to agree on some important recommendations, and the department intends to move forward only on those recommendations," he said.
Education Department spokesman John Gibbons confirmed Paige will only consider unanimous votes.
Otherwise, education officials let Paige's statement speak for itself.
"This reflects how much of an outcry there has been, and how important it is for there to be a spotlight on what happens next," said Marcia Greenberger, president of the National Women's Law Center, which has opposed changing Title IX enforcement.
Among the ideas to be scrapped by Paige's move:
- Allowing schools to measure sports participation in new ways, such as excluding non-scholarship athletes from counts or including available roster slots even if they're not used.
- Giving schools more leeway to accept private sports money, which proponents said could keep teams afloat but critics said would amount to slush funds for men's sports.
- Letting schools exclude older, "nontraditional" students from their counts based on a view that they are less likely to participate in sports. Some commissioners disputed this.
The Title IX debate has grown intense in recent weeks, putting increasing focus on how Paige would respond.
By embracing only the most palatable proposals, he may defuse some of the opposition's momentum, but leading critics were wary at best.
One of the remaining suggestions, for example, says Paige's department should explore ways for schools to prove they don't discriminate.
"That last one is so wide open, it gives them license to do anything. It basically brings all the other ones back into play," said Julie Foudy, one of two commission members to balk at the group's report.
Foudy had voted for the recommendation but withdrew her support after seeing how it appeared in the final report.
Paige also risks grumbles from other commission members who, through majority votes, worked for months on ideas that now may go nowhere.
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Earlier in the day, commission co-chairs Ted Leland and Cynthia Cooper spoke with pride about all of the recommendations.
They said women athletes will be better off with new enforcement.
"I myself am a product of Title IX, and I have benefited from the law," said Cooper, a women's basketball legend. "So I would never do anything that would possibly weaken the law or set back the progress that women have made."
Paige focused on four unanimous ideas: reaffirming a commitment to equal opportunity for men and women, aggressively enforcing the equity law, giving equal weight to each of the three ways schools can show compliance, and making clear that the Education Department disapproves of cutting teams as part of Title IX.
Some schools contend they've had no choice but to trim programs to bring their offerings for men in line with those for women.
Such concerns led to a lawsuit against the Education Department that still stands.
The commission's message of consensus took a hit when two of its three marquee athletes, Foudy and former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona, refused to embrace the report. Famous athletes, actors and Democratic senators have rallied behind the cause to "Save Title IX."
Leland and Cooper said they found that push perplexing.
There is no effort to change the law itself, and giving schools more ways to comply won't hurt women, they said.
