The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, which includes NIU Athletic Director Cary Groth, listened to opposing views on the application of Title IX Tuesday at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

While some do not agree on specific parts of the law’s enforcement, it appeared the speakers do recognize it as important and necessary.

“I think we’ve made great progress in women’s rights,” said Griff Powell, a retired superintendent of high schools, “but we have not reached the promised land.”

Title IX is the section of the Education Amendments of 1972 that states: “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 programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Along with personal anecdotes about how Title IX has affected their lives directly, the panel of experts appearing before the President Bush-appointed commission addressed what they see works and doesn’t work concerning Title IX.

The involvement of the federal government in state and local affairs and the effectiveness of the “three-part test” were the most discussed problems the panelists had with Title IX. The commission members, including Groth, asked questions and did not make statements.

Powell expressed concern about further government intervention, saying he doesn’t want the federal government to increase its involvement. He said state and local governments can handle implementing the law.

“I think [the federal government] can screw up a wet dream,” Powell said.

Disagreements over the “three-part test” became the key issue discussed by panelists and commissioners.

In 1979, the Department of Education issued a policy interpretation that “provides guidance on the application of Title IX to athletics.” There are three parts to the interpretation and an institution only needs to be in compliance with one.

One of the parts is that an institution provides “substantially proportionate” opportunities to its undergraduate enrollment. This suggests that a percentage of a specific gender attending an institution should match that same gender’s athletic participation percentage. Panelists representing community colleges and other small institutes with “non-traditional students” said fulfilling this part of the law is their biggest problem.

Groth asked panelists if they thought the decision to eliminate certain programs is due to the lack of finances or because of Title IX.

Deborah Zelechowski, senior vice president of Institutional Advancement at Robert Morris College in Chicago, said it wasn’t because of budget constraints, citing the building of new facilities for the athletic department.

However, Kevin McCarthy, director of athletics and chairman of the department of physical education at the State University of New York, said both are responsible for the removal of certain athletic teams.

“I can only answer the question by saying ‘yes,’” he said.

Katherine Kersten, senior fellow for Cultural Studies at the Center of the American Experiment, a think tank in Minneapolis, Minn., said “the proportionality test is a crude measurement” for enforcing the law and added that finances are an important part of keeping women’s teams.

“Football is the goose that laid the golden egg,” she said. “It provides money to pay for women’s sports.”

However, Karen Sykes rebutted the claim that finances are more important than maintaining proportionate gender equality in athletics.

“We are not in the revenue business,” she said.

Another part of the test that was questioned was the ability of institutions to provide programs that interest their students.

“We need to focus on the interest measure as much as the proportionality test,” said Rita Simon, president of the Women’s Freedom Network.

Almost all panelists and commissioners appeared to agree, but the method of measuring interest appears to be problematic.

“I wonder if the measurements of interest [such as surveys] will survive in the courts,” Simon said.

Kathleen McGee, director of athletics at Powers Catholic High School in Flint, Mich., stressed that a successful solution must be found.

“School districts should be listening to their students’ needs,” she said.

Demonstrating a history of expanding an institution’s programs to meet the needs of an under-represented sex was one part of the test that didn’t receive much discussion by the commission or the panelists.

The hearings, which will continue Wednesday, are the second of six meetings the commission will use to acquire input about the enforcement of Title IX.

Secretary of Education Rod Paige expects a report from the commission addressing the availability of athletic opportunities at high schools and colleges by Jan. 31, 2003. Paige will consider the commission’s recommendations before proposing changes to the 30-year-old law.