Vice-President Biden announced yesterday that the Obama administration had withdrawn the Bush administration’s approach to Title IX. The White House website describes the action as follows:
Today, Vice President Biden announced that the Administration has issued a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter that withdraws a 2005 interpretation of Title IX policy. Enacted in 1972, Title IX mandates that any educational institution receiving federal funding for programs and activities cannot discriminate on the basis of sex. The 2005 policy issued compliance standards that were widely criticized for being inadequate and inconsistent with Title IX’s nondiscrimination goals. Today’s announcement reverses this interpretation, and returns to a more thorough test for assessing compliance with Title IX.
The full details are here.
What was the Bush administration’s approach that President Obama has withdrawn? Permitting the use of surveys with low response rates to “prove” a lack of women’s interest in campus sports.
Erin Buzuvis (Western New England) and Kris Newhall (PhD candidate, Iowa) cover the story over at the Title IX blog (here, here and here).
-Bridget Crawford
