Emma Carmichael Guest Writer

In 1972, the U.S. Congress enacted Title IX of the Educational Amendments in an effort to prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs, with a focus on athletics. Title IX reads, “No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sexual be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid.”

Recently, the protection and equality provided by Title IX has been threatened. On May 17, 2005, the Department of Education made a clarification to the Title IX amendment that could allow educational institutions to avoid punishment for blatant gender discrimination. The change outlines an “interest survey” entitled “Additional Clarification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy: Three-Part Test—Part Three.” Schools are expected to e-mail surveys to their students regarding their self-assessed interest and ability in athletics. Any students who do not complete the survey wil be considered indifferent toward athletics.

Director of Athletic Operations at Vassar Angel Mason attended and played Division I basketball at Butler University. Mason disagreed with the approach of the survey.

“I think it’s a way to let institutions cop out of what they should be doing,” says Mason. “If you survey Vassar students via e-mail I can almost guarantee that 60 percent won’t respond. Mass e-mails are automatically deleted.

“Because kids aren’t currently active in sports they don’t know their opportunities and what’s available to them,” Mason continued. “In most schools you won’t catch many students trying to go against the grain. If they’re not offered a varsity sport and there’s no intramural program, they won’t look for other options.”

Mason pointed out that Vassar has no women’s softball team. “A few girls participate in the intramural league, but we have no idea if there are enough girls interested to start a team. These opportunities need to be made available; students should not be responsible to create them.”

As proven by the massive increases in female participation in athletics since the implementation of Title IX, women will generally jump at athletic opportunities when they are offered. Women’s rights groups find a basic flaw in the new clarification in that schools can basically meet federal expectations by sending out a mass e-mail and garnering data and taking action based on whatever response they get. These groups argue that instead of allowing schools to take such an indirect approach to this problem, they need to create opportunities for female athletes themselves.

The Department of Education views these surveys as a possible vehicle for the expansion of women’s athletics. If enough women express interest in a rugby team at a university, for example, then the school will make moves to establish one. Women’s groups, however, see a fundamental flaw in this idea and argue that opportunity leads to interest, and not the other way around.

At a school like Vassar, where 13 out of 25 varsity athletic teams are women’s teams, it’s easy to forget that just over 30 years ago gender equality was not enforced in collegiate athletics. Looking beyond Vassar, there is little reason to question society’s acceptance of female athletes: there are professional women’s sports leagues in nearly every sport, including football. Mia Hamm is considered the greatest soccer player to ever play the game, male or female. Michelle Wie is playing on the Professional Golf Association tour. And, of course, there’s Title IX to protect these developments. Or so we assume.

“[Title IX] affected a much broader area than just athletics,” said Mason. It’s very important for people to be educated about what Title IX actually represents—how it works, what plains it covers. It doesn’t mean taking away from men in order to give to women, it means creating equal opportunities across the board.”

The implementation of Title IX in high school and collegiate athletics had an immediate effect. Since 1972, female participation in athletics has increased by 400 percent in colleges and 800 percent in high schools.

“The positive trends that Title IX made possible makes it seem like this is no longer an issue,” Mason explained. “Right now I think people who haven’t been involved or affected aren’t aware of it. Title IX has always been under fire with organizations fighting to keep it alive and strong.”

Mason encourages anyone concerned with the issue to sign a petition to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and to President Bush, urging them to support and strengthen Title IX—whether it be in athletics, employment, standardized testing, or any of the other categories covered by this amendment. The petition can be found at titleix.info.