Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Why call it a three-part test...

...when you're pressured to only use one?

The Obama administration is playing politics with Title IX. I guess they're tying to lock up the Title IX attorney vote for the next election...might want to remind them they're losing the wrestler and swimmer vote, though...

Proportionality (prong 1) is destroying men's opportunities. The OCR knows it. They've recommended that schools use surveys (prong 3). So, why are we still debating this?

From the Office of Civil Rights:

...OCR uses the three-part test to determine whether an institution is providing nondiscriminatory athletic participation opportunities in compliance with the Title IX regulation. The test provides the following three compliance options:

1. Whether intercollegiate level participation opportunities for male and female students are provided in numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments; or

2. Where the members of one sex have been and are underrepresented among intercollegiate athletes, whether the institution can show a history and continuing practice of program expansion which is demonstrably responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the members of that sex; or

3. Where the members of one sex are underrepresented among intercollegiate athletes, and the institution cannot show a history and continuing practice of program expansion, as described above, whether it can be demonstrated that the interests and abilities of the members of that sex have been fully and effectively accommodated by the present program.


Why waste the ink to print parts two and three if the government won't support their use?

The latest from OCR:

Unlike the 2005 Additional Clarification, the letter makes clear that OCR considers multiple indicators in evaluating compliance with Part Three and will not accept an institution’s reliance on a survey alone, regardless of the response rate, to determine compliance.

Suppose 100% of the students respond to a survey, and 100% of respondents want to save the men's swim team at a given school.

Think that matters?

It doesn't!

The OCR won't support the school if it cannot show that its gender numbers in athletics mirror those in the undergrad populations.

I guess it's a lesson that teaches college students about the real world:


Your representatives don't represent you - they represent the special interests that helped them grab power and keep it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The big issue is NOT Title IX but HOW the scholarships are divided. Football cannot control all of the scholarships. What we need is a grass roots movement sponsored by a congressman that will stand up for swimming and all of men's college sports!

Anonymous said...

"Your representatives don't represent you - they represent the special interests that helped them grab power and keep it."
this is a wise man