[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 85 (Monday, June 24, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5919-S5921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1972, TITLE IX

  Mr. REID. Madam President, this week we celebrate the 30th 
anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the 
landmark legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally 
funded educational and athletic programs.
  I look back with great pride at the teams we have had in Nevada. One

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would automatically think of the UNLV Running Rebels basketball team, 
which was a national champion, and I do look back with great pride at 
Jerry Tarkanian and those great athletes. Six basketball players were 
drafted in the first round that year, that is how good they were, but I 
also look back with great pride to the UNLV Rebel women's softball 
teams. We had all-Americans there, too. Lori Harrigan is an example. 
She pitched in two Olympics, won two gold medals. She is a Las Vegan. 
She went to UNLV. It was during her years that we were ranked in the 
top two or three teams in the country.
  I love to go watch the Rebel women play. We now have a new stadium 
for softball. I have told other people this, maybe not so many all at 
once, but I would rather watch them play than the men's baseball team. 
It is a much quicker game. They are tremendous athletes. You are right 
on top of the game in that little stadium, right there with the 
players.
  We should be happy with all of the progress we have made providing 
girls and women with opportunities previously denied them. We must 
continue our efforts to promote gender equality because the job is not 
complete.
  I can remember going to a rural community in Nevada, White Pine 
County High School, and I was going to speak to an assembly. They had 
me in a room waiting for the kids to gather. Two girls were there, 
obviously doing homework, studying. They had on letter sweaters. It was 
kind of cold in the room. I made conversation with them. We talked 
about how much they loved their athletics.
  I told them they were able to play ball because of the law we passed 
in Congress, that they would not be playing otherwise. They said they 
did not understand that. When I left, one of the girls--her name was 
Cassandra--said, ``I would die if I did not have my athletics.''
  I am sure she was exaggerating, but she conveyed to me how much she 
enjoyed athletics. It was like when I was a young man in high school, 
that was the No. 1 thing for me. It was the No. 1 thing for her.
  We must be aware that Title IX programs that have proven so effective 
in helping girls and women are under assault from critics who would 
like to turn the clock back.
  A major column in Newsweek magazine was bashing Title IX about 3 
weeks ago, saying it is a bad program and all it does is hurt boys. 
Millions of people see each Newsweek magazine publication.
  I cannot allow the challenges to proceed. When my wife and I went to 
high school, the only thing she could do athletically was be a 
cheerleader. That is what she did. It did not matter if she could run 
as fast as Gail Devers, or that she could jump high, or whatever it 
might be in athletics today, she could not be involved. They did not 
have programs for girls. That is the way it was almost every place in 
America.
  My boys got their athletic ability from my wife, more so than from 
me. Yet she did not have the chance when she was young to be 
competitive in sports.
  Title IX has helped dramatically to increase participation in sports 
among female students. Among high school girls, there has been an 
almost tenfold increase, from fewer than 300,000 playing competitive 
sports 30 years ago, to now, almost 3 million. At the college level, 
the number of female athletes increased from 30,000 to 150,000. 
Clearly, these statistics show if you build it, they will come. Girls 
and young women have a high level of interest in sports and are eager 
to have equal opportunities.
  I have no doubt that my participating in athletics and my sons' 
participating in athletics helped build character. That is what 
athletics is all about.
  Recently, I had the opportunity to have Billie Jean King come to my 
office. I had a great visit with her. Billie Jean King is what Title IX 
is all about. She inspired a generation of women, and some men, to 
participation in athletics when she beat a world-class tennis player. 
It was on national TV. Everyone knew she would lose, but she trounced 
him. We reminisced about that. The main reason she came to see me was 
to talk about the changing role in sports as it relates to women and 
the importance of Title IX.
  Billie Jean King has inspired successive generations of women 
athletes such as the world champion women's soccer team, whose players 
like Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, and Mia Hamm have benefitted from 
Title IX. I had the opportunity recently to join Julie Foudy at a 
soccer clinic she conducted for some girls in Las Vegas, where she was 
playing in a professional soccer league match that night. It was great 
to see hundreds and hundreds of people who came to see Julie Foudy, a 
great professional athlete who got there as a result of Title IX.
  Judy Foudy, Brandy Chastain, and Mia Hamm now serve as role models, 
as do the current tennis stars, Venus and Serena Williams. We must 
continue to encourage participation in sports and give girls and women 
the same opportunities that boys and men have traditionally had. 
Athletic training and competition have the same benefits for females as 
for males, teaching them not only how to score goals but set goals and 
work hard to achieve them through cooperation and teamwork, developing 
leadership skills and instilling self-confidence.
  At a time where far too many American kids lead sedentary lives where 
they do not move off the couch, and many are obese, we must support 
programs that lead to improved fitness and health. Adolescent female 
athletes are more apt than nonathletes to develop a positive body 
image, less likely to become pregnant, and are at less risk for 
developing women's diseases such as osteoporosis and breast cancer.
  In addition, sports provide a safe and healthy alternative to drugs, 
alcohol, and tobacco, and to antisocial behavior. Students who 
participate in sports feel a greater connection to school and keep 
their grades open to maintain their eligibility.

  Mr. President, as I indicated, there are people who are trying to get 
rid of Title IX, saying it is unfair that we have girls participating 
in high school and college athletics because it hurts boys' programs, 
and for other reasons. They say things such as girls are not as 
competitive, they don't need to do this--I am not making this up. You 
can read the editorial in Newsweek Magazine.
  Mr. President, before Title IX, there were almost no athletic 
scholarships available for women. Now many women have been able to 
pursue a higher education as a result of participation in sports, just 
like young men did and still do.
  I am disappointed, if not surprised, that some critics would like to 
halt this program. They are making misleading and unfair criticisms of 
Title IX.
  Let's set the record straight. Title IX does not require ``quotas.'' 
It is wrong to scapegoat women as the supposed cause of cuts in men's 
athletic programs. In fact, colleges have added hundreds of men's teams 
and there are tens of thousands more male athletes at universities 
since Title IX was enacted. While it is true that some men's teams--and 
some women's teams--have been dropped during this time period, many 
factors, including a declining interest in a particular sport, 
influence a school's decision. Dropping a men's team has never been 
required by law or the courts enforcing the law of Title IX. Rather, 
each school is given discretion to make decisions about how to comply 
with Title IX and provide equal opportunities and treatment for male 
and female student-athletes.
  So while we remain vigilant against attacks on Title IX, we must also 
push for its continued implementation and enforcement.
  For most Americans, Title IX is synonymous with our efforts to 
provide girls and women an equal opportunity to participate in sports, 
but Title IX addresses a whole range of important programs and issues 
related to education. In fact, only a small fraction of Title IX 
complaints received by the Department of Education's Office of Civil 
Rights are related to athletics.
  Title IX also has helped provide women with equal access to higher 
education.
  I remember when I practiced law. A very fine, brilliant man I worked 
with was talking about women being lawyers. There were not many lawyers 
in Las Vegas at the time that were female--very few. My brilliant 
friend

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said there will never be a lot of women lawyers because they have to 
carry these big briefcases and big files. Well, he was certainly wrong 
because a lot of men practice law that don't carry big files and big 
briefcases. Now there are a lot of women who practice law who carry big 
briefcases and big files. It has been found that they are just as good 
in court as men. They are just as good at drawing wills and working in 
corporate America as men. So Title IX has helped provided equal access 
to education for women.
  Years ago, many universities excluded or severely restricted women 
from admission to certain programs. Now, however, the percentages of 
women enrolled in American law schools and medical schools are about 
the same as for men.
  Unfortunately, according to reports recently issued by the National 
Women's Law Center and the National Coalition for Women and Girls in 
Education, young women continue to be subject to persistent gender 
segregation and discriminatory counseling in high school vocational and 
technical education programs at American high schools. There was a 
wonderful piece a week ago last Saturday about women on public radio 
about how girls are treated in high school, about going into programs 
that are vocational in nature, mathematics in nature. School counselors 
talk them out of it every day. While we are speaking, counselors are 
telling girls: why don't you take up something else? How about being a 
nurse or a school teacher? You don't want to go into vocational 
education or work on cars. But they do and they do just as well as men 
working on cars. So there is some real significant discriminatory 
practice there.

  They are often steered toward programs like cosmetology, health aide 
preparation, and child care training, nursing, teaching all of which 
lead to lower paying jobs most of the time; while male students 
congregate in programs leading to higher paying careers in technology 
and the trades. This has significant negative implications for women's 
employment prospects and earning power.
  We need to vigorously defend and enforce Title IX in all of the areas 
it covers, so that we can sustain and expand upon the progress we have 
made.
  Often we hear that girls and women are the beneficiaries of Title IX, 
but I think it is more accurate to say that we all benefit from this 
important civil rights legislation--these affirmative action programs 
that are Title IX. Certainly, American society as a whole is better 
when women--who, after all, make up more than half of our population--
are provided a fair and equal opportunity to develop their full 
potential.
  I go back to what I said when I started this speech. I reflect on 
watching the Running Rebels basketball team when they were the national 
champions. There were great players on that team. As I indicated, six 
of the players on that team in 1 year were drafted in the first round.
  I also reflect with pleasure on watching Lori Harrigan throw a 
softball and keep the UNLV Rebels softball team in the top 10.
  I also reflect on how things have changed since I started practicing 
law. The legal profession is better now because of the women involved, 
just as the Senate is a better place because of the women who are here. 
That is what Title IX is all about.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Nevada for 
bringing up the issue of women in sports. It has meant a great deal for 
women and girls to have these opportunities.
  The Senator talked about when his wife was in school and all she 
could do was cheer for the team. I know Mrs. Reid. She and I are about 
the same age. That was exactly my experience. I am very happy to say my 
daughter was able to play soccer. I see the young girls today reaching 
for the stars--and attaining them.
  I wonder what the order is at this point in terms of the time 
division?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time until 4 o'clock is evenly divided for 
morning business.
  Mrs. BOXER. Our time runs out at 3:30?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minutes to each side.
  Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object, is it evenly divided on 
both sides or just 10 minutes per Senator?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minute grants, evenly divided to each 
side, but no one side has control.

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