The new Title IX policy is drawing fire from both expected and unexpected quarters. Sports Law Blog has a round up here. Feminist groups are predictably upset with the change because it will, in their eyes, reduce the pressue for proportionality in university athletics. Apparently the NCAA is not too pleased with the change either.
The potential use of online surveys seems to be a big sticking point. Some critics of the policy note (rightly) that online surveys are notoriously susect means of gauging public sentiment. USA Today‘s Christine Brennan fears the use of surveys will water down Title IX. Here’s the response Sports Law Blog’s Greg Skidmore:
if you have enough of an interest to play a varsity sport, you also should be able to answer and return a survey. The federal government should ensure that universities do not avoid high answer rates through conspiratorial procedures, but barring this, online surveys are the wave of the future.
That sounds about right to me. Part of the problem with online surveys is that they don’t get an unbiased sample of respondents. But that’s not a problem here insofar as the surveys are trying to measure the depth and intensity of demand for greater female athletic opportunities. Given all of the problems the old rules seem to have created, it seems to me this new, more flexible policy is worth a shot (assuming, of course, the federal government should have much to say about college athletics in the first place).
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