New Title IX Changes

The following is a post by Erin Davenport, an associate at Dorsey & Whitney:

Today, the Obama administration will reverse a Bush-administration policy regarding Title IX, which governs gender equity in athletics. Under Title IX, universities show their compliance with the law in three ways: (1) the number of male and female athletes are proportional to the university’s enrollment, (2) the university is expanding the athletic opportunities on campus, or (3) the university is meeting the interests and abilities of female students on campus. The third option initially required the consideration of several factors, but the policy changed under the Bush administration. The change allowed universities to meet the third option by using a model survey. Additionally, no response to the survey was allowed to be considered as a disinterest in athletics. The NCAA opposed the Bush administration policy.

With today’s announcement, using only the model survey will no longer be sufficient to show Title IX compliance. Universities can still use surveys but must provide additional information to prove that they are meeting students’ interests. The universities also cannot use students’ lack of response to a survey as an indicator of disinterest in athletics.

Although some disagree with changing the policy and think that students may not express their opinions, others think that the new policy will help female students. Perhaps, those in opposition are correct that students will not express their opinions under the new policy and that the administration assumes that it can gauge the level of interest better than students. Allowing a lack of response to a survey, however, to be considered a disinterest in sports is not an accurate indicator. Students have busy lives and may forget to complete the survey – especially when most people receive a large volume of email on a daily, if not hourly, basis. The new policy does not ban surveys as a tool; rather, the new policy merely wants universities to use multiple indicators, which could include the survey, to provide a balanced perspective. Thus, students could still have a voice in what athletics they are interested in if the university uses the survey. Ensuring female participation in athletics helps women realize their potential and may provide them with educational opportunities that they might not have had through athletic scholarships. This new policy likely will ensure that female athletes have an equal opportunity to participate in athletics of their interest and allow students’ voices to be heard.