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Posted on: Saturday, July 12, 2003

Bush administration wants Title IX to stay status quo

By Ben Feller
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — With equal opportunity in sports on the line, the Bush administration has chosen this game plan: Keep enforcement as is, but make sure colleges know their options.

The decision to clarify current rules, but not substantively change them, gives significant direction to schools and colleges as they seek to comply with Title IX. The landmark 1972 law prohibits discrimination based on sex by any school that receives federal money.

Women's sports advocates embraced the new guidance for schools, which took effect yesterday. There were mixed reactions among those who led opposition to Title IX as unfair to men: The College Sports Council said it will continue to fight for more equitable enforcement, but the NCAA called the clarification "a victory for men's sports."

Education Department officials confirmed they will keep the cornerstone of their enforcement: a plan that gives schools three ways to satisfy the law.

The first way — by far the most disputed — says a school's percentage of female athletes must be proportionate to female enrollment. Critics say that amounts to a quota system that has forced colleges to cut men's sports to keep their figures in line.

Department officials did not embrace that claim, but pointed out that proportionate involvement is not the only way to comply.

The new guidance emphasizes the other ways schools can meet the law: by showing a pattern of expanding opportunities for women or by proving the sports interests of women have been met.

Making a point of showing that there are three ways to go "emphasizes that cutting men's sports ... is a disfavored practice," NCAA president Myles Brand said in a statement. "This is a victory for men's sports."

Many colleges, based on guidance during the Clinton administration, inaccurately thought the government favored only the plan that tied sports to enrollment, officials said.

"There was a lack of clarity about what the Department of Education expected," said Brian Jones, the department's general counsel. The agency's Office of Civil Rights will launch a campaign to ensure schools understand the law, and to give examples of how it works."

Bush's education leaders were out to find elusive common ground, not just among those in the athletic community, but also among those in politics. A Title IX review, run by a panel appointed by Education Secretary Rod Paige, drew huge opposition from Democrats, famous athletes and civil rights advocates who feared the anti-discrimination law would be weakened.

In response, Paige promised in February only to pursue those ideas that won unanimous support from his commission.