The NCAA Executive Committee has taken a strong stance on Title IX with the adoption of a resolution at the group's April 28 meeting in Indianapolis that urges the U.S. Department of Education to rescind its March 17 "Additional Clarification for Title IX." The Executive Committee also urged NCAA members to decline use of the procedures set forth in the additional clarification.

The NCAA resolution also was unanimously supported by the Divisions I, II and III presidential bodies that met before the Executive Committee convened.

The action stems from a "Dear Colleague" letter from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that highlights a new analysis of the third prong of the three-part test used to determine Title IX compliance. Title IX requires that at least one prong must be met of a three-part test that includes the following options:

• Male-female athletics participation that is proportional to the institution's undergraduate enrollment.

• A continuing history of expansion of athletics programs for the under-represented gender.

• Accommodating the interests and abilities of the under-represented gender.

The OCR's latest clarification affects the third prong by providing a standardized measure of interest. The OCR in fact provided an example of an Internet-based survey developed by statisticians within the federal government for institutions to determine student interests in athletics. The OCR also provided suggestions on how to distribute the questionnaire -- via e-mail -- and tabulate responses. The OCR is indicating that women students who do not return the survey would be counted as among those uninterested in athletics participation.

"The Executive Committee looked at the fact that the resolution was unanimously supported by our governance structures, which speaks to our beliefs and our values in the support of women and their athletics opportunities," said NCAA Executive Committee Chair Carol Cartwright. "The resolution reaffirms our strong commitment to the enforcement of Title IX policies on our member institution campuses."

NCAA President Myles Brand echoed Cartwright, saying he would urge CEOs to shun reliance on the additional clarification as a way to comply with Title IX.

"In my experience, college and university presidents and chancellors almost uniformly favor a strong Title IX. I believe this latest clarification weakens Title IX," he said. "Thus, I encourage presidents to work with their athletics directors and senior woman administrators to achieve Title IX compliance in the way that makes most sense for each campus -- and I hope that institutions choose compliance methods that are more sound than the most recent survey instrument suggested by the OCR."

NCAA Senior Woman Administrator Judy Sweet, senior vice-president for championships and education services, said the successes in women's sports opport unities over time would not have been realized under the revised guidelines.

"If we had such a piece of legislation in place in 1972, or in 1982, we would not be where we are today," she said. "And if we rely on this method of compliance in 2005, we're not going to make the progress that still needs to be made."

In other actions, the Executive Committee:

• Asked NCAA staff to assemble a working committee to generate a more precise distinction of the senior woman administrator designation. The working committee should include representation from the Executive Committee's subcommittee on gender and diversity issues, the Committee on Women's Athletics and the three NCAA divisions. The issue arose because of anecdotal evidence about the SWA being a job title instead of a designation for an existing athletics administrator.

• Recommended a proposal for the 2005-06 legislative cycle in all three divisions that would amend NCAA Bylaw 10.1 regarding unethical conduct. The amendment would provide that unethical conduct may include knowing involvement in offering or providing a student-athlete prescription or banned drugs to change athletics performance. The Executive Committee is recommending the change because it believes the act of providing banned drugs to change performance is so egregious that it merits a legislative change in the name of student-athlete well-being.

• Named Alcorn State University President Clinton Bristow to succeed Wichita State University President Donald Beggs as chair of the subcommittee on gender and diversity issues.

• Acknowledged Kent State University President Carol Cartwright for her service as chair of the Executive Committee. University of Hartford President Walter Harrison will succeed Cartwright as chair.

NCAA Executive Committee resolution

"Whereas the U.S. Department of Education, without notice or opportunity for public input, issued an 'Additional Clarification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy: Three-Part Test -- Prong Three' on March 17, 2005, which Clarification allows schools to gauge female students' interest in athletics under the third prong of the three-part test by conducting an e-mail survey and further allows schools to treat a lack of response to the survey as a lack of interest in playing additional sports;

"Whereas the Additional Clarification is inconsistent with the 1996 Clarification and with basic principles of equity under Title IX because it, among other problems (a) permits schools to use surveys alone, rather than the factors set forth in the 1996 Clarification, as a means to assess female students' interest in sports; (b) conflicts with a key purpose of Title IX -- to encourage women's interest in sports and eliminate stereotypes that discourage them from participating; (c) allows schools to restrict surveys to enrolled and admitted students, thereby permitting them to evade their legal obligation to measure interest broadly; (d) authorizes a flawed survey methodology; (e) shifts the burden to female students to show that they are entitled to equal opportunity; and (f) makes no provision for the Department of Education to monitor schools' implementation of the survey or its results;

"Whereas for these reasons, the Additional Clarification provides the opportunity to evade the legal obligation to provide equal opportunity in sports and violates the Department's 2003 commitment to strongly enforce long-standing Title IX standards;

"Now, therefore, be it resolved that:

"(1) NCAA members are urged to decline use of the procedures set forth in the March 17, 2005, Additional Clarification and abide by the standards of the 1996 Clarification to evaluate women's interest in sports under the third prong of the three-part test, which standards anticipate the use of a multiplicity of tools and analyses to measure that interest;

"(2) The NCAA Executive Committee, on behalf of its members, urges the Department of Education and federal policymakers to rescind the Additional Clarification and to honor the Department's 2003 commitment to strongly enforce the standards of long-standing Title IX athletics policies, including the 1996 Clarification."