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League of Fans Founded by Ralph Nader, League of Fans is a sports reform project working to improve sports by increasing awareness of the sports industry's relationship to society, exposing irresponsible business practices, ensuring accountability to fans, and encouraging the industry to contribute to societal well-being.Alerts is League of Fans' email announcements list. Alerts provides news, information, the actions of League of Fans and/or Ralph Nader regarding sports issues, and calls-to-action for subscribers. All email updates are either selected or written by League of Fans. League of Fans is motivated by people, just like you, who are upset with what has become of our sports and would like to make a difference. We work with concerned citizens, sports fans, civic groups and communities to increase awareness of the sports industry's relationship to society, influence a broad range of issues in sports at all levels and encourage the cooperative capacities that make the "sports powers-that-be" capable of helping, not just dominating, our society and culture. We often think of sports as outside the realm of everyday citizen concern. But the many benefits to society that sports can provide are sometimes undermined by a different set of values, often based on the quest for higher and higher profits at the expense of fans, taxpayers, communities, culture and social justice. Get Involved! Your involvement will improve sports for communities and fans, and encourage the sports industry to better contribute to societal well-being. |
League of Fans joins with over 100 other organizations in urging Congress to reject efforts to roll-back 30 years of progress for women and girls in sports May 21, 2003On the eve of the WNBA season and Annika Sorenstam's debut as the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour, over one hundred women’s rights, education, civil rights, religious, labor, and advocacy organizations are calling upon Congress to urge the current Administration to reject changes to Title IX policies that would eradicate three decades of progress in athletics for women. In a letter delivered to every member of Congress, the groups outline the serious attack on Title IX athletics policies. The letter follows:
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Dear Representative/Senator,
We, the undersigned education, women’s rights, civil rights, good government, and advocacy organizations, are writing to urge you to support current Title IX athletics policies and to ask you to join us in urging the President and Secretary Rod Paige to reject any changes to those policies.
As part of our nation's civil rights enforcement scheme, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bars sex discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding, including athletics programs. As you know, the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics provided its final report regarding Title IX athletics policies to Secretary Paige on February 26, 2003. The report contains recommendations that could devastate the current Title IX athletics policies, reducing the athletic opportunities and scholarship dollars to which women and girls are legally entitled.
Unfortunately, Title IX, and its three-part test for ensuring equal athletics participation opportunities, have been wrongly blamed for cuts to some men’s sports teams at some educational institutions. However, the three-part test provides maximum flexibility to schools and the facts demonstrate that most educational institutions comply with Title IX’s mandate to provide equal athletics participation opportunities by expanding opportunities for the underrepresented gender, or by demonstrating that they have fully accommodated the interests and abilities of the underrepresented gender. Further, schools choose to support, eliminate, or reduce particular sports opportunities for both men’s and women’s specific teams for a variety of reasons, including varying interests in specific sports, and choices about how to allocate budget resources among the sports teams.
Thirty years after enactment of Title IX, female athletes today continue to face persistent discrimination at both the high school and college level. Although male and female participation in athletics has grown steadily, female student-athletes continue to receive far fewer participation opportunities, scholarships, and operating and recruitment budgets. For example, although women in Division I colleges are 53 percent of the student body, they receive only 41 percent of the opportunities to play sports, 36percent of overall athletic operating budgets, and 32 percent of the dollars spent to recruit new athletes. Thus, we have not yet reached Title IX’s goal of gender equity.
We believe that:
- No changes to the Title IX athletics enforcement polices are warranted or necessary; the three-part test, including its proportionality prong, is an appropriate and necessary means to implement Title IX’s requirement of equality.
- The current Title IX standards must be vigorously enforced by the federal government at every level of education to ensure equal opportunity.
- Title IX policies must not be weakened because of financial choices educational institutions make to emphasize selected sports programs, reduce the size of some sports programs, or in other ways determine the size and expense of athletics programs.
The public overwhelmingly supports the existing Title IX standards. A USA Today/CNN poll done in January 2003 found that seven of ten adults familiar with Title IX think the law should be strengthened or left alone. Indeed, the current policies have been in place through Republican and Democratic administrations and have been uniformly upheld by all eight of the federal appeals courts that have considered them. We urge you to contact President Bush and Secretary Paige and ask them to reject any proposed changes to Title IX athletics policies.
Sincerely,
American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness
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Senate resolution urging Department of Education to maintain current Title IX regulations: S.Res. 153 - PDF file (5/22/03)
Myles Brand, NCAA president, speaks out in support of Title IX (4/28/03)
Ralph Nader and League of Fans' letter to Secretary of Education Rod Paige opposing changes that would undermine Title IX (3/5/03)
Minority Report - PDF file (2/03)
Ralph Nader's "In the Public Interest" column on protecting and enforcing Title IX (1/29/03)
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