The NCAA News - News and Features

June 30, 1997

Clinton urges vigorous enforcement of Title IX law

President Clinton commemorated the 25th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in a speech June 17, and admonished educational institutions to comply with the law.

He also instructed government agencies to beef up enforcement.

"Every school and every educational program that receives federal assistance in the entire country must understand that complying with Title IX is not optional. It is the law and must be enforced," he said.

Clinton said he was giving federal agencies 90 days to submit "new and vigorous enforcement plans" regarding Title IX.

"Today, I'm directing every agency and executive department of our government to strengthen their enforcement of Title IX within the next 90 days by reviewing current procedures, consulting with the attorney general on the best way to improve them and delivering to me a new and vigorous enforcement plan," Clinton said.

Also as part of the observance, Clinton moved to close a legal loophole exempting military academies and other government education programs from Title IX requirements. Title IX covers institutions that receive federal assistance but not those operated by the federal government, such as schools run by the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He gave those groups 60 days to devise a plan.

"I believe it is essential that the federal government hold itself to the same principles of nondiscrimination in educational opportunities that we now apply to education programs and activities of state and local governments and private institutions receiving federal assistance," Clinton said in a memorandum for heads of executive departments and agencies issued June 17.

Six women pioneers joined Clinton at the ceremony in Washington, D.C., including astronaut Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman to fly in space, and six-time Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Clinton noted that Title IX did not create the women's successes but that it gave them the opportunity to make the most of their abilities.

"Title IX has had a beneficial impact on every American citizen. If we've learned anything in the last 25 years since Title IX became law, it is that expanding benefits and opportunities for any American helps the rest of us," he said. "Wasted opportunities diminish us all."

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A "gender-equity report card" was released June 23 by the Women's Sports Foundation in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of Title IX.

The report evaluates the degree to which it believes that institutions have been successful in meeting equity standards in four categories -- athletics participation, scholarship allocations, recruitment spending and operating expenditures.

In the report, grades were assigned in each category and a composite grade-point average calculated for each institution based on a 4.000 scale.

Of 767 Divisions I, II and III institutions that responded to the survey (it was sent to 902 institutions), only 28 received an overall grade of "A," which signified that they had met equity standards based on the percentage of women in the student body. Forty schools were below "C" -- the grade considered by the foundation to be average.

The foundation said the report illustrated that despite the progress women have made in college athletics, large disparities still exist in the resources given to men and women, with men receiving a disproportionate share. According to the report, women still make up barely one-third of college athletes and receive less than one-fourth of the resources in some of the categories.

The foundation said results of the survey also supported the contention of gender-equity advocates that increasing opportunities for women have not meant cutbacks in the number of men's programs. Opponents of the current method of Title IX enforcement have claimed that the pressure to add women's teams has forced some schools to eliminate men's programs.

Don Sabo, professor of sociology at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York, and a foundation trustee who was responsible for analyzing the data compiled by the Women's Sports Foundation, found that from 1978 to 1996, 2,239 women's college teams were created while 581 were eliminated. Also during the period, 927 men's programs were created while 853 were eliminated. The institutions gained a net increase of 1,658 sports programs, while men netted 74. Division I showed a decrease in the number of men's programs.

"Our findings suggest that many colleges and universities are allocating resources and opportunities at a roughly 2-to-1 ratio between male athletes and female athletes, despite the fact that women outnumber men on most campuses," Sabo said. "In addition, it is proven that the rise of women's sports over the past 18 years has not come at the expense of men's programs, but rather the misallocation of funds has caused the elimination of men's nonrevenue sports programs."

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The five women who sued Louisiana State University over Title IX violations and the university both are appealing the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the case.

The women and LSU each filed notices of appeal in the case June 9. Federal rules of procedure require that parties to a lawsuit file a notice with the court within 30 days of the final court order in the case if they plan to appeal any aspect of the court's findings.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty ruled in mid-May that the plan presented by LSU to remedy the violations of Title IX found during a 1995 trial was acceptable.

The suit was filed by women athletes who claimed LSU was dragging its feet in adding women's soccer and softball, thus intentionally discriminating against its female students.

Following the month-long trial, Doherty ruled in January 1996 that LSU violated the federal statute by not accommodating the interests and abilities of its women athletes and ordered the university to immediately elevate soccer to varsity status and to establish women's softball as a varsity sport.

LSU's notice of appeal states only that it may appeal Doherty's final order and all previous orders, including "any and all findings that LSU is or has been in violation of Title IX."

The plaintiffs' notice of appeal was more specific. Issues the women said they planned to appeal include: