With a new administration poised to take over the executive branch next week, one of the hot topics among collegiate athletics circles is how President Obama – and his new education secretary – will oversee the enforcement of Title IX within athletics programs.

Obama has said little about Title IX beyond a lengthy statement released on the law’s 36th birthday in June 2008.

“When I’m president, I’ll fight to make sure our female students have equal opportunities from pre-kindergarten all the way through graduate school. I will strengthen Title IX enforcement at the Department of Education … And I will direct my Department of Education to help schools take steps to fulfill their Title IX obligations in both the sports and academic arenas,” the statement said. “I am the father of two young girls who are growing up playing sports and who are beneficiaries of the doors Title IX opened.”

Virginia law professor George Rutherglen said he doesn’t see Obama backing away from the law.

“The Obama administration would not support any change that would loosen the restrictions in Title IX,” Rutherglen said. “They certainly wouldn’t lend their support to relaxing the enforcement of Title IX. Whether they would go further and enforce Title IX more vigorously, at least with respect to athletics, would depend upon the particular issue.”

Obama’s choice for secretary of education, former Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan, sheds little light on the future chief executive’s intentions. Duncan has mainly been a secondary- and primary-school educator and administrator.

The Department of Education oversees the Office for Civil Rights, which has jurisdiction over Title IX enforcement. Under President George W. Bush, the OCR was moderately active in Title IX issues, forming the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to examine the application of the law and subsequently releasing a clarification that included permission to use a survey to gauge interest among prospective female student-athletes. Some interested parties, including the NCAA Executive Committee, challenged that methodology.

The commission’s work resulted in few substantive recommendations, and few NCAA institutions have used the survey instrument.

Jeffrey Orleans, executive director of the Ivy League and a former civil rights attorney, said he hopes the Obama administration displays the kind of leadership necessary to encourage collaboration between parties on different sides of Title IX interpretation.

“There’s a chance to make a common cause between the men’s sports (that have seen roster sizes and teams reduced in recent years) and women’s sports,” Orleans said. “You could really talk about a good way to provide equal opportunity in this time of financial crisis. I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t do it.”

Rutherglen said he believes that the Obama administration is likely to at least maintain Title IX enforcement levels, if for no other reason than Democrats’ traditionally more aggressive interpretation and enforcement of the statute.

“I certainly don’t see any retrenchment away from the current attempt to equalize slots between male and female athletes,” he said, pointing to the politics involved in the policy as well. “Obama is worried about his support among women, which is why he’s brought Sen. (Hillary) Clinton into his administration. I just can’t see with that background that he’s going to touch a nerve among women’s groups by cutting back on enforcement or policies in Title IX.”

But some advocates who support Title IX reform say that it’s not prudent to speculate what imprint the Obama administration will leave.

Mike Moyer, executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, leads one of several groups that hope to eliminate what they believe are unintended consequences of the application of Title IX: reduced opportunities for males through eliminated teams and roster management.

“Clearly, it’s impossible to speculate what the Obama administration might consider with respect to Title IX’s interpretation,” Moyer said. “I think it’s very, very important, and we hope that his administration will take into account some of the consequences of not finding a more fair and reasonable interpretation that protects women without harming men.”

Orleans agreed that no one really knows exactly how Obama’s administration will handle Title IX, but he does have a wish list.

First, he hopes that the law will be examined beyond its athletics context, with attention paid to attendance at law schools and medical schools and in other educational-attainment ways, something he said the current administration gave “no attention to at all.”

Within athletics, Orleans hopes that the OCR develops a stronger presence in the field to give institutions a “strong sense that there is scrutiny” when they are changing their sport sponsorship levels. Along with that desire is a hope for a department that provides thorough, “smart” technical assistance to institutions that need it.

“I hope there is a chance to help people understand that you can respond to financial situations without ‘hurting men at the expense of women,’ ” Orleans said. “There is a chance to use this crisis as a teachable moment.”