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Former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh II speaks about Title IX - the law he shepherded though Congress in 1972 that guarantees equal educational opportunities for both men and women.

Former senator: Title IX at risk

By: Christopher Barrett

Posted: 11/9/05

11/09/05 - The so-called "father" of Title IX said at yesterday's University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium that funding decisions and new federal guidelines are putting a "dark cloud" over women's opportunities.

"You need to understand there is a dark cloud on the horizon for women, especially participation for women in sports," former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh II said. "There are steps being taken right now under the guise of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to try and lower the bar of compliance."

In 1972, Bayh introduced the now-called Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act that requires schools receiving federal money to offer equal opportunities to both genders.

The former Democratic senator from Indiana said the law has had a "profound" impact on involving more women in sports. But he warned a March 2005 U.S. Department of Education clarification is flawed. The clarification allows schools to use e-mail surveys to determine if they are meeting the law.

"They're not even reliable and the real sleeper in this so-called clarification in sending out the e-mail. And in determining what the results are, you can determine those who do not reply are uninterested," he said. "That will guarantee, or going to preordain, that the interest is not there."

He urged audience members to write Spellings and their representatives.

"Please let them know you're concerned and want them to tell the secretary to get off the dime, retract that clarification and get back to equality," Bayh said to applause from the audience.

He added later, "I do not know why [she introduced the clarification]. She's a very bright lady but she's very wrong on this one."

Bayh said it was a lady in his life that inspired him to draft Title IX.

Bayh said his first wife Marvella Bayh dreamed of attending the University of Virginia.

"The application was returned, 'Women need not apply,'" Bayh said. "It was because of Marvella Bayh that I had the privilege of introducing Title IX."

He also credited his father with inspiring him to afford women the same opportunities men had in sport.

He urged students upset with athletic opportunities at their schools to put pressure on administrators for change.

"Most universities and colleges have their own student organizations so if I were doing it I would start there," he said. "Then I'd visit the president. I might even spend a lot of time in the president's office until he saw me."

In response to questions from the audience, Bayh spoke about President George W. Bush.

Audience members asked Bayh, who served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, what went wrong with American intelligence apparatus that showed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - a finding that now appears false.

"We had the head of the CIA when asked by the president [about weapons], he said it was a slam dunk," Bayh said. "I think if you're in Congress you give the president a benefit of doubt."

He added, "I don't really think [Bush] was told in the quiet of the Oval Office that there were [weapons]."

Nonetheless, Bayh said the country now appears stuck in Iraq.

"I think a good case can be made once we're there. We need to stick it out though this [Iraqi] election period," Bayh said. "If we pulled out of Iraq, that stabilization force, I think there'd be a shootout."

Bayh also spoke briefly about his son Evan's future political ambitions. The younger Bayh is now serving as a U.S. Senator from Indiana and is rumored to be considering a presidential run.

"As far as Evan is concerned, I gather he is thinking about it," Bayh said. "Having sniffed around the same rose bush myself, I understand why he might do it."

Bayh sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1976 but lost to former president Jimmy Carter.