The Obama administration announced a major change to Title IX that would overturn changes made under former President George W. Bush and allow schools to be compliant solely by giving a web-based survey to evaluate interest in programs.
Title IX, which began in 1972, aims to make participation in athletics and other activities equal for collegiate men and women.
The 2005 clarification became a part of Title IX during the Bush administration, which will now be withdrawn by a “Dear Colleague” letter read by Vice President Joe Biden. It set up a model survey template for universities to give to their students to determine interest in activities and sports. Universities were able to say they completely fielded their student body’s interests based on the responses from these surveys.
Title IX is broken up into three prongs to determine compliance. If a university is compliant, it needs to adhere to at least one of the prongs. The 2005 clarification is a part of the third prong, which states a university is compliant if it demonstrates it is meeting the needs of the underrepresented sex on campus, according to a statement from the United States Office of Civil Rights.
The survey method was often used as a simple way to satisfy that compliance requirement.
According to Biden’s letter, all other aspects of the third prong of compliance will remain.
Universities can still use a survey to determine interests and can still claim compliance under the third prong, however, the administration has called for more facets of interest to be looked at than just the survey, according to a statement from the Department of Education.
Critics of the 2005 clarification said it was detrimental to the overall purpose of Title IX. National Women’s Law Center Attorney Neena Chaudhry said the clarification provided a loophole for universities to claim compliance, and the Obama administration’s announcement will strengthen the law.
Chaudhry said the web survey allowed universities to interpret no responses from students as a lack of interest in activities, which would mean the university would not have to take action to meet the interest of its students.
Not everyone is against the model survey. A February 2010 Title IX report from the U.S. Commission Rights said the model survey was adequate to evaluate student interest and provided a flexible and rigorous assessment. According to the report, the model survey was the best way for a university to achieve prong three compliance in Title IX.
The University of Wisconsin does not use these or any types of surveys to evaluate athletic interest in their student body. Associate Athletic Director at UW Terry Gawlik said UW Athletics relies on the first prong of Title IX, which looks at the proportion of male and female athletic programs.
Gawlik said the withdrawal would in no way affect UW.
UW Assistant Vice Chancellor for Workforce Equity and Diversity Luis A. Pi?ero said there are resources on campus for students to find out about the rights afforded to them by Title IX.
