[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.
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