Biden says Title IX compliance and enforcement will be high priorities during Obama administration
CSN News
April 21, 2010
Vice President Joe Biden, speaking Tuesday at George Washington University in Washington, announced that the Obama administration will be tougher than the Bush administration was in making sure that schools comply with the requirements for Title IX funding.
Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1965 prohibits schools that receive federal funds from discriminating against women in educational and athletic programs. It is credited with increasing the number of female sports teams and female athletes on college campuses.
Biden said the change helps women. "Making Title IX as strong as possible is a no-brainer," Biden said. "What we’re doing here today will better ensure equal opportunity in athletics, and allow women to realize their potential -- so this nation can realize its potential.”
The move announced by Biden will make it more difficult for schools to show that they are complying with Title IX requirements.
Prior to 2005, there were three ways schools could prove compliance with Title IX: They could show that the number of men and women competing on their teams were proportional to enrollment. They could show that women’s programs were increasing. Or they could show that the programs they offered fulfilled the actual interests of their students.
In 2005, the Bush administration allowed schools to simply survey students to see if their interests were being fulfilled. That is the policy which the Obama administration is now ending.
“Let’s make it clear that that change is gone,” Biden said. “2005 has disappeared.”
