Opening Statement

Athena Yiamouyiannis
National Association for Girls and Women in Sports

Title IX Blue Ribbon Commission- Inequities in the Process

We, as Americans, rely on our government to "do the right thing" and provide equal opportunity for all. This is particularly important when reviewing civil rights regulations. However, a violation of public trust has occurred in regard to the Title IX Commission.

First of all, equal access is an American principle. Whatever your differences (rich or poor, black or white), you are supposed to have a proportional and representative vote and voice. This is not so, with the Title IX Commission, as the Department of Education selected an overwhelming majority of representatives from NCAA Division I-A. Ten of 15 voices on the Commission are from NCAA Division I-A institutions. There were no representatives from Division II or III, none from junior colleges, and none from high school athletics programs, even though the Commission is charged with reviewing the regulations for all these entities. The Department of Education has clearly stacked the deck from the start with individuals representing the wealthier, more powerful institutions who have a vested interest in weakening the law in order to comply.

• The Department of Education continues to manipulate the process in countless other ways under which the Commission on Opportunities in Athletics operates. Here is but a sampling of the appalling inequities:
• The Department began by providing biased questions as a base from which the Commissioners were supposed to begin their review of the issues.
• The Department of Education exhibited extraordinary bias in the selection of panelists they invited to testify before the Commission at the Town Hall Forums.
  • Of the 52 invited panelists . . . opponents of Title IX outnumbered supporters by more than two to one.
  • The General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan group directed to conduct studies on this topic was not invited to share their findings, even though multiple commissioners requested to hear from them.
  • Commission members asked repeatedly for information on the law and its regulations and clarifications, particularly the 1996 Title IX athletics policy clarification and their requests were not granted.
• As a result, the Commissioners were left with unanswered questions about all the data brought before the Commission and even about the law itself.
• Commissioners were given only six working days after the last hearing to synthesize the multiple days of testimony and thousands of pages of documentation from which to base their findings and recommendations.
• A key political appointee serving in an ex-officio capacity, lobbied for Title IX policy changes beyond even those suggested by the Commissioners themselves.

With lack of equal representation, biased questions, clear manipulation of the process among other things, it is quite evident that the Commission is being used as a vehicle to push forth a pre-determined agenda to weaken Title IX. The system is being rigged to provide greater advantage to an already advantaged population. This is both wrong and un-American.