Members of the Title IX panel want to reexamine the federal law prohibiting sexual discrimination in collegiate sports, which UW-Madison has been in compliance with for more than 30 years. Education Secretary Rod Paige received two reports Wednesday: one from his Title IX panel and one from two members of a Title IX review study commission, who criticize proposed changes to the law.
Panel members said they would like to relax the law, which would allow colleges to better comply with it.
UW-Madison administrators said there is not a problem with how strict the law is, but rather, the interpretation of the law.
\Title IX has been confused in how you implement it and it's been a law that's been really confusing to know whether you're in compliance,"" said Bernice Durand, associate vice chancellor for diversity and climate at UW-Madison.
Currently, schools can comply in one of three ways: meeting their female students' interest in sports, giving more opportunities for women in sports than they did previously or making opportunities for male and female athletes proportionate to the men and women on campus.
The commission members; Julie Foudy, an Olympic gold medal winner in soccer, and Donna de Verona, who outline their views in the minority report, said changes to the law would ""result in substantial losses to women in athletic opportunities.""
UW-Madison administrators said they feel changes to Title IX would be a step in the wrong direction. Cheryl Marra, a UW-Madison sports administrator and associate athletics director, said she did not want to see the law change.
""We sent a position paper to that particular commission stating our concerns with [the proposed changes], and our experiences with Title IX,"" she said.
