[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 17, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H4860-H4863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN CELEBRATION OF THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF TITLE IX OF THE EDUCATION
AMENDMENTS OF 1972
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, June 23rd marked the 30th
anniversary of Title IX of
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the Education Amendments of 1972 which prohibits sex discrimination in
any educational institution that receives federal funds. To commemorate
this 30th anniversary, it is important that we celebrate the successes
of Title IX, acknowledge its tremendous and positive impact on the
lives of girls and women in our country, and rededicate ourselves to
the continued pursuit of equal educational opportunities for girls and
women.
I was a member of the House Education and Labor Committee in 1972. I
worked diligently to promote civil rights legislation during my entire
tenure. I consider Title IX to be one of my most significant efforts as
a Member of Congress, and I take special pride in honoring its
contributions to changing our view about women's role in America.
Title IX has opened the doors of educational opportunity to millions
of girls and women who otherwise would have been shunned or relegated
to a secondary place. Title IX has helped to tear down barriers to
admissions, increase opportunities for women in nontraditional fields
of study, improve vocational educational opportunities for women,
reduce discrimination against pregnant students and teen mothers,
protect female students from sexual harassment in our schools, and
increase athletic competition for girls and women.
We have heard much about the many successes of Title IX, particularly
in athletics. Most do not know of the long arduous course we took
before the enactment of Title IX and the battles that we have fought to
keep it intact. On the occasion of this 30th anniversary, it is
appropriate to take time to reflect on the history of this
landmark legislation so we may never forget the struggles and we may
never forget the original purpose.
From the day at age four when I had my appendix removed, I knew I
wanted to be a doctor. I went to college drive with this goal. I was
elected President of our college pre-med organization. No one bothered
to tell me that my career goal could not be achieved because I was
female. In my senior year I applied to a dozen or more medical schools.
Everyone turned me down because I was female. I was stunned. I had a
degree in zoology and chemistry that could not get me to my coveted
profession. America the land of the free had closed its doors of
opportunity to me because I was female.
Again after I got my law degree I was shut out from employment
because I was female.
When I ran for elected office was ostracized because I was ``only a
woman'' and presumably therefore had nothing to contribute.
This personal story of my life adds meaning to what happened in
Congress. Title IX had its origins in a series of hearings on sex
discrimination and equal opportunities for girls and women held in the
mid-1960s and early 1970s by the House Education and Labor Committee.
Throughout that time, the committee had been engaged in the process of
systematically gathering a large body of evidence of discrimination
against girls and women in our educational system.
In 1965, the year I first came to Congress and became a freshman
member of the Education and Labor Committee, Chair Adam Clayton Powell
initiated an examination of discrimination in textbooks. Our committee
scrutinized textbooks and found that they portrayed girls and women in
stereotypical ways and minimized our potential to lead. We hauled in
the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare because they were
issuing brochures and films that consistently portrayed women in
occupations such as nursing, teaching, or social work, but never as
scientists, doctors, lawyers, judges, pilots, or engineers. We
scrutinized vocational education courses and found that girls were
being taught home economics while boys were being taught skills and
concepts that would prepare them for higher wage careers. In addition,
we found that the admissions policies of many institutions
systematically excluded women from graduate and professional schools
and rarely if ever afforded them scholarships, fellowships, research
stipends, or staff assistantships.
In 1970, Congresswoman Edith Green (D-OR), Chair of the House Special
Subcommittee on Education, held hearings on a bill she had introduced,
H.R. 16098. This bill would have amended Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964--which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance--to also ban sex discrimination.
On July 3, 1970, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Jerris
Leonard testified before Congresswoman Green's subcommittee on H.R.
16098. He said that while the Justice Department would not support
language to amend the Civil Rights Act, ``we suggest an alternative''.
The alternative was that the committee should concentrate on developing
separate legislation that would prohibit sex discrimination in
education. This was the genesis of Title IX.
It is important to put this initiative in the context of the times.
This was right around the time of the big push for the Equal Rights
Amendment. The women's movement was active and growing and supporters
of equal rights for women were pursuing equal protection under the
Constitution. Under the leadership of Representative Martha Griffiths
(D-MI) Congress voted for the ERA in 1971 by a vote of 354 to 24,
sending it to the states for ratification. While Congresswoman Green's
bill to prohibit sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964
would have provided broader protections for women, prohibiting sex
discrimination in education would be a giant step forward in the fight
for equal rights for girls and women.
The opportunity to add Title XI came in 1971 when the House turned
its attention to consideration of amendments to the Higher Education
Act, H.R. 7248. It was initially Title X of H.R. 7248 and it prohibited
discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational institution
receiving federal funds. It also authorized the Civil Rights Commission
to investigate sex discrimination, removed the exemption of teachers
from the equal employment coverage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and
eliminated the exemption of executives, administrators, and professions
from the Equal Pay Act.
The bill was reported out of the House Education and Labor Committee
on September 30 1971 and was considered by the full House on October
27, 1971.
During consideration by the full House, Representative John Erlenborn
(R-IL) offered an amendment to exempt undergraduate admissions policies
of colleges and universities from the prohibition of sex
discrimination. This amendment won by a 5-vote margin, 194 to 189.
The provision that would have authorized the Civil Rights Commission
to investigate sex discrimination (section 1007) was eliminated during
the floor debate on a point of order by House Judiciary Committee Chair
Emanuel Celler (D-NY) because it came under the jurisdiction of his
committee.
At the same time, the Senate was working on amendments to its Higher
Education Act. The Senate also argued bitterly over the inclusion of a
provision banning sex discrimination in schools.
During the Senate floor debate on August 6, 1971, Senator Birch Bayh
(D-IN) offered an amendment, along with Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
and Phil Hart (D-MI), to ban sex discrimination in any public higher
education institution or graduate program receiving federal funds.
Senator George McGovern (D-SD) also submitted an amendment prohibiting
sex discrimination in education, but decided not to offer it and
instead supported the Bayh amendment.
As the Bayh amendment was considered, Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC)
raised a point of order against it on the grounds that it was not
germane. The point of order was sustained by the Chair, who agreed and
ruled that ``the pending amendment deals with discrimination on the
basis of sex. There are no provisions in the bill dealing with sex.'' A
50 to 32 roll call vote sustained the ruling of the Chair.
The Senate reconsidered the higher education legislation in early
1972 because it objected to the House version that included provisions
prohibiting the use of federal education funds for busing. Again, the
bill that came out of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare did not
include any provisions banning sex discrimination in schools.
Fortunately, Senator Birch Bayh was persistent on the issue of sex
discrimination in education. During the floor debate that began on
February 22, 1972 he offered an amendment that would prohibit sex
discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funds but
would exempt the admissions policies of private institutions. Later,
Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) offered an amendment to the Bayh amendment
that also provided an exemption for public single-sex undergraduate
institutions. Both amendments passed by voice vote. This time, a
provision prohibiting sex discrimination in schools was included in the
bill passed by the Senate.
Negotiations in the House-Senate Conference Committees, held in the
spring of 1972, finally yielded Title IX. The final language prohibited
sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal
funding and applied to institutions of vocational education,
professional education, and graduate higher education, and to public
institutions of undergraduate higher education. The conference report
was filed in the Senate on May 22 and in the House on May 23. The bill
was approved by Congress on June 8. On June 23, 1972--30 years ago--
President Nixon signed it into law.
Since its passage most people have come to associate Title IX with
gains made by girls and women in athletics. Certainly, this is the most
visible, spectacular, and recognized outcome of Title IX. However, many
are surprised to learn that the topic of athletics did not even come up
in the original discussions about Title IX. Our primary goal was to
open up educational opportunities for girls and women in
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academics, and the most controversial issue at that time was the
application of Title IX to institutional admissions policies.
The impact of Title IX on athletics became apparent almost
immediately. We were thrilled to see that athletic opportunities were
starting to open up to girls and women, although these changes also
sparked controversy. When coaches and male athletes began to realize
that they would have to share their facilities and budgets with women,
they became outraged. In 1975, this anger prompted the first and most
significant challenge to the law.
Opponents of Title IX proposed an amendment to the education
appropriations bill to prohibit the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare from promulgating Title IX regulations to apply to college
and university athletics. They paraded a number of college and
professional athletes through the committee room to testify that Title
IX hurt men's athletics. At the time, women athletes were so few and
unknown that the only well-known athlete we could bring in to testify
was Billie Jean King. The fact that there were virtually no prominent
women athletes in our country was a testament in itself to the
necessity of Title IX.
The amendment was agreed to by the House and was included in the 1975
House appropriations bill (H.R. 5901), but it was not agreed to by the
Senate and was stricken in conference.
On July 16, 1975, I managed the House floor debate against a motion
by Representative Robert Casey (R-TX) to insist on the House position.
In the midst of vigorous debate on the issue and just prior to the
vote, I was sent word that my daughter had been in a life-threatening
car accident in Ithaca, New York. I left the floor immediately and
rushed off to Ithaca to be with her. After I left, the Casey motion
carried on a vote of 212 to 211. The House had voted to exclude college
athletics from Title IX regulations. The newspapers reported that I had
left the floor ``crying'' in the face of defeat. Without checking with
my office the paper indulged in the very stereotypical smear that we
were fighting against.
The following day, the Senate voted 65 to 29 to insist on the Senate
position and strike the amendment from the bill.
On the next legislative day, July 18, 1975, Speaker Carl Albert (D-
OK) and Representative Daniel Flood (D-PA) took the House floor and
explained the circumstances of my departure. Representative Flood then
offered a motion ``to recede and concur in the Senate position''. An
affirmative vote on this motion would reverse the vote taken by the
House two days prior and would reject both the Casey position and the
amendment. It carried by a vote of 216 to 178. Title IX's application
to athletics for preserved.
While the story of Title IX is a story of celebration, it also a
story of struggle to defend it against persistent challenges. Although
we celebrate the year 1972 as the year of enactment of Title IX, in
retrospect it is clear that I was engaged in efforts to pass a Title IX
law since I first arrived in Congress in 1965. There is also a clear
pattern of repeated attempts to weaken or undermine Title IX from the
very beginning. For 30 years, we have constantly needed to be on guard
to defend it.
Five years ago, several colleagues and I came together on the House
floor to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Title IX. Since then its
story of spectacular successes, coupled with new and significant
challenges, has continued to evolve. One of the most notable successes
since the last anniversary was the tremendous victory by the U.S.
Women's Soccer Team in the 1999 Women's World Cup. Hundreds of
thousands of spectators attended the games and millions more watched on
television. These strong, disciplined, and exciting athletes drew
record-breaking audiences, inspired a whole new generation of girls to
pursue their dreams, and captivated a nation.
This victory was significant not only for its impact on women's
athletics but as a testament to the power of Congress to change the
nation for the better. Mia Hamm, one of the team's brightest stars, was
born in 1972--the same year that Title IX was signed into law. Without
Title IX, she and many of her teammates may have never had the
opportunity to develop their talents and pursue their dreams.
Along with recent public celebrations of Title IX however, there have
also been new and high-profile attacks. In 1998, the Republican
majority of the Committee on Education and the Workforce inserted an
11th hour provision into the Higher Education Amendments that would
have required colleges and universities to report annually any changes
in funding or in the number of participants on an athletics team. In
addition, it would have required them to forecast four years in advance
any decisions to eliminate or reduce athletic programs or funding and
to ``justify'' their decisions.
During the House floor debate on the Higher Education Amendments on
May 6, 1998 Tim Roemer (D-IN) offered an amendment to delete the
provision.
Several colleagues and I argued strenuously in support of the Roemer
amendment. We believed that this provision would have been
extraordinarily intrusive on the decision-making processes of colleges
and universities. We believed that it was impractical because it would
have been virtually impossible for institutions to know four years in
advance whether or not they would need to cut programs. Most
importantly, we opposed this provision because of its potential for
severe and adverse impact on the enforcement of Title IX. This
provision had been supported by opponents of Title IX who wanted to
force colleges and universities into blaming Title IX for their
decisions to make reductions or cuts to minor, non-revenue men's sports
teams.
The argument that Title IX is to blame for the reduction of some
men's minor, non-revenue teams is patently false. Title IX regulations
do not require schools to cut men's teams in order to comply with Title
IX. Instead, reductions or cuts to some men's sports teams--and to many
women's minor sports teams as well--are due to choices made by college
administrators in favor of the big budget, revenue-generating programs
such as football and basketball. To blame Title IX is disingenuous and
just plain wrong! The goal of Title IX is not to disadvantage men but
to provide equal opportunities for women.
After a vigorous debate on the House floor, the Roemer amendment was
agreed to by a vote of 292-129. The provision was deleted from the
Higher Education Amendments of 1998.
Unfortunately, the myth that Title IX is to blame for the reduction
of men's minor sports teams on college campuses has continued to
persist. In January of this year, the National Wrestling Coaches
Association and other groups filed a high-profile lawsuit in federal
court against the U.S. Department of Education, arguing that colleges
and universities have cut wrestling teams and other men's minor sports
teams in order to comply with Title IX.
This argument is unsupportable. The Department of Education's
regulations regarding Title IX do not require schools to cut men's
teams in order to comply with Title IX. Rather, ``proportionality'' is
only one of three ways that schools can comply with the law. They may
(1) offer athletic opportunities in substantial proportion to male and
female enrollment, or (2) show that the institution is steadily
increasing opportunities for women students overtime, or (3) show that
the athletic interests and abilities of female students are being met.
Institutions do not need to demonstrate all three.
While the Department of Justice filed a motion to seek dismissal of
this lawsuit on May 29, 2002, the final disposition of the case is
pending.
New challenges and questions have also been raised recently about
Title IX and single-sex education. On May 8, 2002 the U.S. Department
of Education announced its intention to encourage single-sex education
in the nation's public schools by filing a notice of intent to propose
amendments to the regulations implementing Title IX. According to the
announcement in the Federal Register, the Bush Administration wants to
``provide more flexibility for educators to establish single-sex
classes and schools at the elementary and secondary levels''. This
announcement marked a reversal of three decades of federal education
policy regarding single-sex education.
While advocates of this proposal cite research studies indicating
that students may perform better in same-sex educational environments,
opponents fear that the proposal endorses a form of segregation. In
addition, many others worry that tampering with the current Title IX
regulations is risky and dangerous and may have the ultimate effect of
weakening Title IX.
Given difficult challenges such as these, it is especially important
that we celebrate the many successess of Title IX. However, it is even
more important that we not become complacent about Title IX. Many young
girls and women today do not even know about Title IX and take it for
granted that equal educational opportunities are safeguarded by the
Constitution. While it is wonderful that equity has become the expected
norm, we must also teach each new generation that there was a time when
Title IX did not exist. Further, we all need to be reminded that since
Title IX was put in a place by a legislative body, it can also be taken
away by a legislative body. We need to be vigilant. Title IX must be
protected and defended to ensure that equal educational opportunities
for girls and women are preserved for all generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, as I have recounted this story here tonight, you can see
that the pursuit and enforcement of Title IX has been a personal
crusade for me for three decades. I am proud to have been a part of the
enactment of Title IX in Congress 30 years ago, and I continue to be
proud of its rich and lasting legacy of equal educational opportunities
for girls and women. On this 30th anniversary, let us rededicate
ourselves to the goals of dignity,
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equality, and opportunity for all that characterized our dreams for
Title IX 30 years ago. These goals are every bit as worthy and
important today, in 2002, as they were in 1972.
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