Washington, DC -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) is urging the Bush administration to reconsider new rules that would weaken the requirement that schools provide equal opportunities for girls and young women in sports. Senator Clinton has sent the following letter to United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings urging her to uphold the Title IX law.

March 22, 2005

Dear Secretary Spellings:

I write to express my deep concerns with the Department of Education's new Title IX policy guidance. This guidance, which was issued late in the day last Friday, appears to be nothing short of an under-the-radar effort to reduce athletic opportunities for women and girls, and to undermine their right to equal treatment.

Since Title IX became law in 1972, participation by girls in high school sports has increased by 800 percent; participation by young women in college athletics has increased by 400 percent. Quite simply, Title IX works -- it has provided interested girls and women many more opportunities to participate in athletics. In the face of this unqualified success, I am deeply concerned that we will see all of this progress begin to erode if the guidance issued Friday is permitted to stand.

The Department's guidance would make it possible for a school to use an "interest survey" to determine whether they are Title IX-compliant. This provision would dramatically diminish the requirement that schools provide equal opportunities for girls and women. The interest survey approach is problematic for several reasons.

First, under the Department's guidance, a lack of response to the survey may be interpreted as lack of interest in sports participation. Given the low rate of responses to surveys in general, particularly to email surveys, participation will probably be a poor indicator of student interest in sports. Furthermore, surveys alone cannot accurately measure student interest and ability. Plenty of students do not recognize their own potential until a coach, parent, or friend encourages them to try. It is quite likely that women and girls will not express interest and ability in particular sports if they have not been offered the chance to play them.

Currently, schools have to take other factors into consideration, such as the opinions of coaches and administrators, or participation rates in sports in surrounding high schools or recreational leagues. These methods are more accurate measures of the demand for sports among girls and women.

Finally, interest surveys are likely to reflect and reinforce existing discrimination against women and girls, who have not received and still do not receive equal sports opportunities. Today, 30 years after Title IX became law, women and girls receive only 41 percent of athletic opportunities despite the fact that they constitute half of student enrollments.

As I said in my speech on the Senate floor on February 26, 2003, "to use interest surveys to determine the proportion of girls and women who must be provided the opportunity to participate in sports…is equivalent to surveying women in 1900 to ask whether they would like to vote and then using the results to justify their disenfranchisement." Julie Foudy, the world-class soccer player, has described the effect of using interest surveys as "freezing discrimination in place."

The bottom line is that the Department's guidance would give schools an easy way out of their Title IX responsibilities. I was encouraged when you reaffirmed the Department's commitment to Title IX in response to my questioning during your confirmation hearing. Today, I am deeply disappointed with your willingness to undermine Title IX's effectiveness.

As a result of the Department's guidance, how many millions of girls will miss out on the exhilaration of winning, the life lessons of losing with dignity, the discipline instilled by rigorous training, and the confidence that can be gained from being a respected teammate? The value of these experiences cannot be quantified, and they last a lifetime. In the interests of today's young women and girls, and those who will follow, I ask you to reconsider Friday's guidance.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

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