[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 137 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 137

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that changes to 
Title IX athletics policies contradict the spirit of athletic equality 
  and gender parity and should not be implemented, and that Title IX 
                         should be kept intact.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 2003

  Ms. Slaughter (for herself, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. George 
Miller of California, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Solis, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. DeLauro, 
 Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Ms. 
 Loretta Sanchez of California, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Payne, 
    Mr. Farr, Mrs. Capps, and Mr. Bishop of New York) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
                           and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that changes to 
Title IX athletics policies contradict the spirit of athletic equality 
  and gender parity and should not be implemented, and that Title IX 
                         should be kept intact.

Whereas title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-318), also 
        known as the ``Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act'' 
        (hereafter referred to as ``Title IX''), prohibits education programs or 
        activities that receive Federal funding from discriminating on the basis 
        of gender, including in their athletic programs and activities;
Whereas prior to 1972 and the enactment of Title IX, virtually no college 
        offered athletic scholarships to women, fewer than 32,000 women 
        participated in collegiate sports, and women's sports received only 2 
        percent of the schools' athletic dollars;
Whereas according to the Department of Education's 1979 Policy Interpretation, 
        educational institutions may demonstrate compliance with Title IX in one 
        of 3 ways: by providing participation opportunities for male and female 
        students in numbers substantially proportionate to their respective 
        full-time enrollments, by showing a history of program expansion 
        responsive to the interests and abilities the underrepresented athletes' 
        sex, or by demonstrating that the interests and abilities of the members 
        of the underrepresented sex have been fully and effectively accommodated 
        by the present program;
Whereas the 1979 Policy Interpretation and its 3-part test has been in place for 
        over 2 decades and has been supported by both Republican and Democratic 
        administrations;
Whereas 2 out of 3 schools comply with prongs 2 or 3 of the 3-prong compliance 
        test;
Whereas the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education issued a 
        clarification letter in 1996 regarding the 3-prong test, confirming that 
        institutions can comply with Title IX's requirement of non-
        discriminatory participation opportunities by meeting any single part of 
        the 3-part test; setting out specific examples for compliance to guide 
        institutions, and confirming that there are no strict numerical formulas 
        for determining Title IX compliance;
Whereas the 1979 Policy Interpretation and the 1996 letter of clarification 
        provide educational institutions with ample and fair guidance on 
        compliance with Title IX and provide flexibility to institutions so that 
        they may determine for themselves how best to comply with the law;
Whereas the enforcement mechanism of Title IX, the 3-part test, has been upheld 
        by 8 Federal Courts of Appeals as legal and valid;
Whereas since the beginning of Title IX implementation, men's participation in 
        intercollegiate sports has increased from 220,178 to 231,866, and 
        women's participation has increased from 31,852 to 162,783;
Whereas the number of girls participating in athletics at the high school 
        varsity level has increased from 294,015 in 1972 to 2,784,154 in 2001, 
        an 847 percent increase;
Whereas equal opportunity in athletics does not exist, despite the strides made 
        by Title IX, as, for example, only 42 percent of college athletes 
        nationwide are female and female athletes receive $133 million fewer 
        scholarship dollars per year than their male counterparts;
Whereas nothing in Title IX or its policies requires schools to reduce men's 
        opportunities to come into compliance with participation requirements 
        and 72 percent of colleges and universities that have added women's 
        teams have done so without cutting any teams for men;
Whereas recommendations made by the Commission for Opportunities in Athletics 
        for changes to the Title IX athletics policies would seriously weaken 
        Title IX's protections and result in significant losses in participation 
        opportunities and scholarships from those to which women and girls are 
        entitled under current law; and
Whereas these recommended changes to the Title IX athletics policies would allow 
        a school that fails to equally accommodate its male and female students 
        to be in compliance with Title IX without having to fully demonstrate 
        that discrimination does not exist in its athletic programs: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) proposed changes to Title IX athletics policies 
        contradict the spirit of athletic equality and gender equity;
            (2) current Title IX athletics policies, the Department of 
        Education's 1979 Policy Interpretation, as clarified in the 
        1996 Clarification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy 
        Guidance, should remain unchanged and enforced vigorously to 
        eliminate the continuing discrimination against women and girls 
        in athletics; and
            (3) if the Department of Education changes Title IX 
        athletics policies, Congress should restore the intent of Title 
        IX through policies that preserve the right to equal 
        opportunities in athletics.
                                 <all>