[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1692-S1694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                TITLE IX

  Mr. REID. The time is now mine, and I want to talk about something 
that is real important to me, important to the State of Nevada, and the 
country. I do not think it would be a stretch to say this 
administration does not have a good record on protecting civil rights. 
Republicans say they are for diversity, but they are fighting against 
policies that promote diversity. Embarrassed and on the defensive 
following recent events that focused attention on the Republican 
Party's position on civil rights, the President and other prominent 
Republicans professed a new willingness to support efforts to expand 
opportunities for all Americans.
  Unfortunately, they have not taken any action to suggest that they 
have a sincere change of heart. In fact, to the contrary, the President 
has recently opposed affirmative action policies that open the doors of 
higher education to a generation of talented and motivated minority 
students, and he does not oppose affirmative action that gets people in 
some of our best schools because they are children of alumni, that some 
students get into because of their athletic ability, and a lot of other 
issues that were not brought up in the brief the President filed with 
the Court.
  The President has to fully fund education programs, including those 
targeting minority and low income students. The President has nominated 
and continues to nominate judicial candidates who have expressed and 
demonstrated hostilities to civil rights enforcement and has placed 
opponents of civil rights in positions of power.
  Now comes the disturbing news that this administration is on the 
brink of attacking title IX, programs that have made America better, 
stronger, and fairer by enabling millions of young women the same 
educational opportunities as young men. We cannot--I personally will 
not--let the administration do that. We cannot let this administration 
even think about dismantling title IX, taking away opportunities from 
American women, and undoing the progress we have made over the last 30 
years.
  Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 was the landmark 
legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded 
educational athletic programs.
  In my career, as in the career of the Presiding Officer, I have had 
the opportunity to meet some very outstanding people. One of the people 
I met was a woman by the name of Molly Yard. Molly Yard was five foot 
two, from Pennsylvania, a graduate of Swarthmore, born in China to 
missionary parents. She came back to the United States when she was age 
13. Having participated in athletics in China, when she came back to 
the United States there were no programs for girls. She always felt 
less of a person than she could have been for not having the ability to 
participate in athletics. For this woman, who later in life became the 
president of the National Organization of Women and was heavily 
involved in all kinds of activities, the one issue of utmost importance 
to her was title IX and having young women involved in athletics.

  I met Molly Yard. I met her when she was an older woman. She was 
still very dynamic. Even though, after I met her, she had a stroke and 
was physically infirm, she was still very enthusiastic about having 
worked for title IX and young women, girls, participating in athletics.
  Evan Bayh, who is presently the Senator from Indiana, should be proud 
of his father for many achievements. All of us who know Birch Bayh, a 
former Senator from the State of Indiana, know what a fine man he is 
and what a great legislative record he accumulated while in Congress, 
but Evan should be most impressed with his father for being the sponsor 
of title IX. In 1972, it was Birch Bayh who wrote and introduced these 
amendments that made title IX what it is today.
  I will focus my remarks primarily on equal opportunity in athletics, 
not the whole statute.
  As a sports fan, I love athletics. As a young boy, my dream was to be 
a professional baseball player, but I was not good enough. So I am a 
Senator instead. As an avid sports fan, I wake up in the morning and 
the first thing I do is read the sports page. I do it because there is 
always good news on the sports page. People may not always be happy 
with the outcome of athletic events, but there is always something good 
happening on the sports page; somebody won this or won that.
  I enjoy very much going out to our university campuses in Nevada. I 
live in the southern part of the State and go to UNLV most of the time 
to watch girls athletics. I love to watch softball. I don't know how 
many people watch college level or high school level girls softball, 
but it is so exciting. I hope I don't offend Jim Bunning, but it is 
more exciting than baseball. It is quick and fast.
  I have had the opportunity to watch some great athletes play 
softball. Lori Harrigan pitched and won games in two successive 
Olympics. I recently had a thrilling experience with a young lady named 
Nicole Truax, an intern from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, a 
pitcher on one of their softball teams. I love to talk to Nicole. When 
she was 12 years old, her father could no longer catch her ball. She 
threw the ball so hard that her dad could not catch it.
  That is what girls athletics is all about. I went to a UNLV girls 
basketball game recently and I went into the locker room afterwards and 
talked to them about title IX, about the reason they can participate in 
athletics, because of a law we passed in Congress.
  On the high school level, I recently visited Gorman High School and 
watched Gorman High School play. The main reason I went was one of my 
friend's two girls play. They are both athletes, Danielle and Jackie 
Bates. They run track and play basketball.
  I recently visited with and helped present some awards to the Green 
Valley High School golf team. This golf team set a national record for 
consecutive victories. On October 1 of last year they broke the record 
of 128 straight duel match wins by completing another unbeaten season, 
extending the streak to 133 over 11 years. Girls playing golf; they won 
the State championship last year by 70 streaks. That is what girls do 
in athletics.
  Before title IX, it was rare to see girls and young women playing 
sports. Even if they wanted to play and were tall, they could not play 
in organized competitions because high schools and universities did not 
have women's teams. When I was in high school, my wife, who I am sure 
was more athletic than I, could only be a cheerleader. She could not 
play basketball. Of course, she is only 5 feet tall. There are a lot of 
5-foot tall basketball players in women's sports. In those days, a 
young lady could only become a cheerleader; there were no other 
athletic competitions for her.
  My oldest child is a daughter. Title IX was just coming into being. 
Programs were very sparse when she was in school and she did not 
participate in athletics. All my four boys participated. There were 
programs all over for them.
  Thanks to title IX, women today have a much broader range of athletic 
and educational opportunities at all schools in Nevada and all over 
America. It has helped to dramatically increase participation in sports 
among female students. Since the implementation of title IX, there has 
been an already tenfold participation in high

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school sports for girls. Now, there are 3 million girls participating 
in athletics. At the college level, the number is 150,000 athletes. 
This shows if you build it, they will come. Girls and young women have 
a high level of interest in sports and have embraced the opportunity to 
participate.
  This dramatic increase in women participating in athletics has taken 
place even though women athletes still do not get equal treatment or 
equal funding that boys and men get. At schools in cities and towns and 
communities across the country, the boys who play sports are worshipped 
as heroes and get fancy uniforms, sometimes two or three seats for each 
player, new training facilities, and the best practice fields and games 
and an expensive travel budget.

  I am sure women, before title IX, would have welcomed a chance to 
play on any school team, even if it meant wearing an old worn-out 
uniform, playing at less convenient times. But for girls it is not 
enough just to play. They deserve equal treatment. That is the law. 
Despite the inequality and unfairness, girls and young women 
participate in record numbers.
  Remarkably, some critics of title IX trot out old stereotypes, 
claiming that women are not interested in sports. That is simply not 
true. The statistics show otherwise. The participation rate of girls in 
high school athletic programs since 1992 has increased 800 percent. 
There are five times as many women in college athletics.
  We all know young men are actively pursuing opportunities to play 
sports. They see Michael Jordan and they want to be just like Michael, 
to jump to new heights. Girls also admire women who are successful in 
athletics, such as a Mia Hamm or a Julie Foudy, who played on our World 
Cup championship team, or Sheila Leslie, who plays basketball, or Gail 
Devers, who can run faster than most men in the world. That is whom 
they admire. And even though there are the Greg Madduxes and Steve 
Youngs men admire and respect, there are women athletes whom young 
women aspire to be like, such as Tasha Schwikert from Las Vegas, still 
in high school, a gymnast who is ranked No. 1 in the country and fifth 
in the world. It inspires other young ladies. They see Serena and Venus 
Williams shining on the court and ask, Why not me?
  Last summer, the Secretary of Education announced the appointment of 
a panel to study title IX. It would have been great if he called for a 
review of how better to enforce the law, but he did not. Although no 
one in the administration dares to criticize title IX, and Secretary 
Paige praised it, they are poised to gut it. American girls and young 
women must be thinking that with friends like these, who claim to 
follow the law and like the law but are acting to undermine it, who 
needs enemies.
  This week, the President's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics is 
holding its final meeting and will soon make recommendations that 
threaten the achievements American society has made because of title 
IX. It would be better entitled the President's Commission to Prevent 
Opportunity in Athletics.
  I am deeply concerned about the stealth attack on women. If the 
President agrees with recommendations of this Commission--which, by the 
way, is heavily weighed by very large schools with great big football 
programs--he can make revolutionary changes. Even though Congress and 
the courts and the American people and women and men have consistently 
supported title IX, he could do this, but it would be wrong.
  Yesterday, new data released by the Women's Sports Foundation found 
that the proposed changes being made by the President's Commission 
could result in a loss of as many as 931,000 opportunities for girls to 
participate in high school sports each year. Is this bad or wrong? Of 
course.
  What are some of the facts about title IX? What is it and what is it 
not? No. 1, opponents of title IX claim they are in favor of title IX 
but not as policies. They certainly do not want to jeopardize men's 
athletics. No. 2, in reality, nothing in the law or policy requires 
schools to set aside a certain mandatory number of slots for athletics. 
In fact, every court that heard this argument has said title IX does 
not require quotas.
  No. 3, then, means title IX is not a quota system. Although one way a 
school can comply with the law is by ensuring the percentage of male 
and female students is about equal--the race of men and women in the 
student body is not the only way you can do it--there are many other 
ways.
  For example, schools can comply with title IX simply by showing it is 
trying to expand opportunities for female athletes or that it has 
accommodated interests of female students at the school, whatever the 
number of opportunities it provides. One proposal apparently being 
reviewed allows colleges and universities to limit the number of 
scholarships awarded to female athletes. Regardless of how many women 
are enrolled, a school would be allowed to limit women to just 43 
percent of college scholarships. Why? On average, women comprise 53 
percent of the student body's division 1 colleges at the top level of 
competition, but they are only 41 percent of the athletes,
  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 the title IX 
complaints received by the Department of Education's Office for Civil 
Rights are related to athletics. Maybe that is too bad, but it is a 
fact.
  Title IX also has helped to provide women with equal access to higher 
education. 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 
approximately the same as for men.
  Unfortunately, according to reports recently issued both 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. 
They are often steered toward programs like cosmetology, health aide 
preparation, and child care training all of which lead to lower paying 
jobs 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. We need not to weaken the programs but to strengthen them.
  We need to recognize the importance of title IX in opening 
educational opportunities for women in math, science, engineering and 
technology and examine the underrepresentation of female students at 
both the secondary and post-secondary levels in traditionally male 
areas of study such as physical science, engineering and technology 
programs, and the barriers that women continue to face in these 
programs.
  I am concerned that it the President takes steps to deny girls and 
young women equal opportunity in athletics some will see that as a 
message that it is also okay to chip away at other laws and programs 
that protect women and promote fairness.
  We need effective title IX enforcement--not weakening--to ensure 
women have the same opportunities as men to participate in science and 
technology programs and classes.
  While we should be happy with all 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.
  Programs that have proven so effective in helping girls and women are 
under assault from critics who would like to turn the clock back.
  We cannot allow these challenges to succeed--and we will not.
  The girls and women playing sports now, their ``soccer Moms'' and 
``basketball Dads'' will not tolerate a reversal of title IX--and 
neither will those of us in Congress who advocate equal opportunity for 
women.
  We must continue to encourage participation in sports and provide 
girls and women the same opportunities

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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 also how to set goals--and work 
hard to achieve them, promoting cooperation and teamwork, developing 
leadership skills, and instilling self-confidence.
  Mr. President, I have had the opportunity to serve in the Senate with 
two great athletes, two Hall of Fame athletes. One is Bill Bradley, who 
until recently was a Senator from New Jersey. What a fine man he is. A 
lot of his greatness was as a result of his athletic abilities.
  Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky, with whom I have had the pleasure 
to serve and get to know, is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, as 
Senator Bradley is of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jim Bunning is here 
for a lot of different reasons, however most notably, this man, as he 
went through his baseball career, developed this tremendous confidence. 
Anyone who knows Jim Bunning knows of his tremendous self-confidence. 
That came as a result of his athletic prowess, ability, and hard work. 
That is what athletics is all about, and it works for women as it does 
for men.
  At a time when far too many American youth lead sedentary lifestyles 
and are obese, we must support programs that lead to improved fitness 
and health. Adolescent female athletes are more likely than non-
athletes to develop a positive body image and less likely to become 
pregnant. They also are at less risk for diseases and health problems 
that afflict women like osteoporosis or breast cancer.
  In addition, sports provide a safe and health alternative to drugs, 
alcohol, and tobacco, and to anti-social behavior. Students who 
participate in these programs feel a greater connection to school, have 
an additional incentive to attend classes and keep their grades up so 
they can maintain their eligibility.
  I am disappointed, if not surprised, that some critics would like to 
halt this progress. They are making misleading and unfair criticisms of 
title IX. We are watching what this commission does this week in 
Washington.
  So while we remain vigilant against attacks on title IX, we must also 
push for its continued implementation and enforcement, and the only 
changes we will allow will be changes for the better.
  Often, we hear that girls and women are the beneficiaries of title 
IX. I'm sure they are. But I think it is more accurate to say that we 
all benefit from this important civil rights legislation. 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.

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