In late April, the Obama Administration announced that they would issue a “Dear Colleague” letter to withdraw a 2005 interpretation of Title IX policy.

Enacted in 1972, Title IX mandates that any educational institution receiving federal aid for programs and activities cannot discriminate on the basis of gender.

Over the last several decades the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has provided three options to determine whether athletic programs at higher education institutions comply with Title IX:

• Match the proportion of female athletes to the proportion of women on campus,
• Show a history and continuing practice of increasing sports for women, and
• Prove the school has met the interest and ability of women to participate in athletics.

However, under the third option, the 2005 ruling, which was withdrawn by the Obama Administration, allowed higher education institutions to use a survey to prove a lack of athletic interest.

The “Dear Colleague” letter from the Obama Administration clarifies that the Office of Civil Rights requires higher education institutions to use multiple indicators to assess athletic interests and abilities and does not consider survey results, alone, to be sufficient evidence to justify an imbalance in women’s sports.