Paige Creates Blue-Ribbon Panel To Examine Ways To Strengthen
Enforcement, Expand Opportunity To Ensure Fairness For All
Title
IX enabled generations of women and girls to achieve their dreams,
Paige says
FOR RELEASE:
June 27, 2002
Contact: Dan Langan
Rodger
Murphey
(202) 401-1576
Related Resources
- Testimony
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on 30th Anniversary
U.S. Secretary of Education
Rod Paige today applauded the successes of Title IX, the 30-year-old
anti-discrimination law, and announced a blue-ribbon panel of sports
professionals and educators who will examine ways of strengthening
enforcement and expanding opportunities to ensure fairness for all
college athletes.
Paige said the new Commission on Opportunity
in Athletics will include 15 men and women and will be co-chaired
by former WNBA star Cynthia Cooper and Ted Leland, director of athletics
at Stanford University. The members of the Commission will hold public
hearings and speak with parents, athletes, coaches, college officials,
educators and other experts, as well as state, local and national
leaders, to gather information and prepare recommendations that will
be submitted to Paige by January 31, 2003.
"Without
a doubt, Title IX has opened the doors of opportunity for generations
of women and girls to compete, to achieve, and to pursue their American
dreams," Paige said. "This Administration is committed to
building on those successes. I am confident that, with the help of
this Commission, we will learn how we can do a better job of enforcing
a law that represents hope to so many Americans."
Regarding
her role as co-chair and involvement with the commission, Cooper said: "I
would like to thank Dr. Paige for the confidence he has shown in me
by asking me to serve as co-chair of this very important commission.
I'm looking forward to providing input as well as leadership to ensure
that the mission and the goals of the commission are accomplished."
Fellow
co-chair Leland added: "I am honored to be a part of this prestigious
committee. Title IX legislation has had an incredibly positive effect
on collegiate athletics, both at Stanford University and throughout
the nation."
President Richard Nixon signed into law
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil Rights
Act that says: "No person in the United States shall on the basis
of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits
of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program
or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
Title
IX prohibits all public and private colleges and universities that
receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex. Since
most colleges and universities receive federal funds, most commonly
through financial aid to students, nearly all must comply with Title
IX.
In the decades since Title IX became the law, the number
of women graduating college and entering the professions has soared.
So has the number of women's sports teams at our nation's colleges
and universities. According to the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, colleges added nearly 3,800 more women's
teams since Title IX became law.
"President Bush recognizes
the while great strides have been made in the fight for equality,
we still have much more work to do in this area," said Paige. "And
as the U.S. Secretary of Education, I am proud to be a part of implementing
the President's vision of a nation where civil rights laws are enforced
fairly and vigorously.
"When we say we want no child
left behind, we mean it. Our goal is to bring out the best efforts
of all our young people in our nation's schools—from kindergarten
through college."
Paige said the Department of Education's
Office for Civil Rights has investigated and resolved many complaints
regarding college sports, usually involving fairness for women athletes.
He said recent complaints, however, have raised questions of fairness
for men's teams.
Paige said some college administrators have
complained that the Department has failed to provide clear guidance
on how to comply with Title IX, while other groups allege that ineffective
enforcement of Title IX has caused men's teams to be eliminated.
"Some
would like to settle this in the courts," Paige said. "But
we believe the better approach is to discuss all the questions openly,
in a forum where all voices and all viewpoints can be heard. The members
of this Commission are on the front lines, facing the difficult issues
in athletics every day. And I am confident that they will provide
us with valuable guidance as to how we can better expand opportunities
for all young Americans—girls and boys, women and men—in
the classroom and on the playing field."
In addition
to Cooper and Leland, the Commission includes:
• Percy
Bates, Professor of Education at the University of Michigan and representative
to the Big 10 Conference and the NCAA for the past 12 years;
• Bob
Bowlsby, Director of Men's Athletics at the University of Iowa;
• Gene
DeFilippo, Athletic Director at Boston College;
• Donna
De Varona, Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee Government
Relations Committee. Donna twice won Olympic gold medals in swimming
and co-founded the Women's Sports Foundation.
• Julie Foudy,
President of the Women's Sports Foundation and Captain of the U. S.
National Women's Soccer Team;
• Tom Griffith, Assistant
Secretary and General Counsel at Brigham Young University;
• Cary
Groth, Athletic Director at Northern Illinois University;
• Lisa
Graham Keegan, CEO of the Education Leaders Council and formerly Arizona's
Superintendent of Public Instruction;
• Muffet McGraw,
head coach of women's basketball at the University of Notre Dame;
• Mike
Slive, Commissioner of Conference USA;
• Rita Simon, Professor
at American University's School of Public Affairs and Washington College
of Law;
• Graham Spanier, President of Pennsylvania State
University; and
• Deborah A. Yow, Director of Athletics
at the University of Maryland.
For more information, including
the commission's charter, visit www.ed.gov.
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