IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 137
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that changes to Title 
IX athletics policies contradict the spirit of athletic equality and gender 
parity and should not be implemented, and that Title IX should be 
kept intact. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 11, 2003
Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. GEORGE 
MILLER of California, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. 
DELAURO, Mrs. MCCARTHY
of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. 
MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mrs. 
MALONEY, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. FARR, Mrs. CAPPS, and Mr. 
BISHOP of New York) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
changes to Title IX athletics policies contradict the spirit 
of athletic equality and gender parity and should not 
be implemented, and that Title IX should be kept intact.
Whereas title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 
(Public Law 92–318), also known as the ‘‘Patsy 
Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act’’ 
(hereafter referred to as ‘‘Title IX’’), prohibits education 
programs or activities that receive Federal funding from 
discriminating on the basis of gender, including in their 
athletic programs and activities;
•HRES 137 IH 
Whereas prior to 1972 and the enactment of Title IX, vir-
tually no college offered athletic scholarships to women, 
fewer than 32,000 women participated in collegiate 
sports, and women’s sports received only 2 percent of the 
schools’ athletic dollars; 
Whereas according to the Department of Education’s 1979 
Policy Interpretation, educational institutions may dem-
onstrate compliance with Title IX in one of 3 ways: by 
providing participation opportunities for male and female 
students in numbers substantially proportionate to their 
respective full-time enrollments, by showing a history of 
program expansion responsive to the interests and abili-
ties the underrepresented athletes’ sex, or by dem-
onstrating that the interests and abilities of the members 
of the underrepresented sex have been fully and effec-
tively accommodated by the present program; 
Whereas the 1979 Policy Interpretation and its 3-part test 
has been in place for over 2 decades and has been sup-
ported by both Republican and Democratic administra-
tions; 
Whereas 2 out of 3 schools comply with prongs 2 or 3 of the 
3-prong compliance test; 
Whereas the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Edu-
cation issued a clarification letter in 1996 regarding the 
3-prong test, confirming that institutions can comply 
with Title IX’s requirement of non-discriminatory partici-
pation opportunities by meeting any single part of the 3-
part test; setting out specific examples for compliance to 
guide institutions, and confirming that there are no strict 
numerical formulas for determining Title IX compliance;
•HRES 137 IH 
Whereas the 1979 Policy Interpretation and the 1996 letter 
of clarification provide educational institutions with 
ample and fair guidance on compliance with Title IX and 
provide flexibility to institutions so that they may deter-
mine for themselves how best to comply with the law; 
Whereas the enforcement mechanism of Title IX, the 3-part 
test, has been upheld by 8 Federal Courts of Appeals as 
legal and valid; 
Whereas since the beginning of Title IX implementation, 
men’s participation in intercollegiate sports has increased 
from 220,178 to 231,866, and women’s participation has 
increased from 31,852 to 162,783; 
Whereas the number of girls participating in athletics at the 
high school varsity level has increased from 294,015 in 
1972 to 2,784,154 in 2001, an 847 percent increase; 
Whereas equal opportunity in athletics does not exist, despite 
the strides made by Title IX, as, for example, only 42 
percent of college athletes nationwide are female and fe-
male athletes receive $133 million fewer scholarship dol-
lars per year than their male counterparts; 
Whereas nothing in Title IX or its policies requires schools 
to reduce men’s opportunities to come into compliance 
with participation requirements and 72 percent of col-
leges and universities that have added women’s teams 
have done so without cutting any teams for men; 
Whereas recommendations made by the Commission for Op-
portunities in Athletics for changes to the Title IX ath-
letics policies would seriously weaken Title IX’s protec-
tions and result in significant losses in participation op-
portunities and scholarships from those to which women 
and girls are entitled under current law; and
•HRES 137 IH 
Whereas these recommended changes to the Title IX athletics 
policies would allow a school that fails to equally accom-
modate its male and female students to be in compliance 
with Title IX without having to fully demonstrate that 
discrimination does not exist in its athletic programs: 
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) proposed changes to Title IX athletics poli-
cies contradict the spirit of athletic equality and gen-
der equity; 
(2) current Title IX athletics policies, the De-
partment of Education’s 1979 Policy Interpretation, 
as clarified in the 1996 Clarification of Intercolle-
giate Athletics Policy Guidance, should remain un-
changed and enforced vigorously to eliminate the 
continuing discrimination against women and girls 
in athletics; and 
(3) if the Department of Education changes 
Title IX athletics policies, Congress should restore 
the intent of Title IX through policies that preserve 
the right to equal opportunities in athletics.
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