Education officials reverse Bush policy on equity compliance for female athletes | Oregonlive.com

Education officials reverse Bush policy on equity compliance for female athletes | Oregonlive.com

Education officials reverse Bush policy on equity compliance for female athletes

By The Associated Press

April 20, 2010, 2:27PM

The U.S. Department of Education is repealing a Bush-era policy that some critics argue was a way to avoid complying with federal law in providing equal opportunities for female athletes.

Under the move, schools and colleges must now provide stronger evidence that they offer equal opportunities for athletic participation under the federal Title IX gender equity law.

It reverses a 2005 policy under former President George W. Bush that allowed schools to use just a survey to prove a lack of interest in starting a new women's sport and encouraged schools to consider a non-response to the questionnaire as disinterest.

"Making Title IX as strong as it possibly can be is the right thing to do," Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday at an event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., announcing the change.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan cautioned that discrimination continues to exist in college athletic programs and urged vigilance in enforcing the law. The Education Department announced last month that it will be intensifying its civil rights enforcement efforts on a broad range of