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NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY ROUNDUP

This February, Body Electric held a number of events and activities to celebrate NGWSD.

** On February 3, we announced our sixth annual Body Electric Athletic Scholarship recipient Sarah Brennan, at the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Women in Sports Luncheon. Sarah is a senior softball player at Dos Pueblos High School.

** On February 5, we proudly received a resolution honoring Body Electric and NGWSD from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

** On February 8, we held our first annual Women's FitFest. The day included educational and interactive exhibits by local businesses and nonprofits who serve women and girls; demonstrations of Pilates, weight training, golf and a senior cardio workout; raffle prizes and a scavenger hunt.

** On February 18, our High Five! Celebrity Waiter Dinner and Concert took place at SOhO Restaurant, with community celebrities including Congresswoman Lois Capps, Second District Supervisor Susan Rose and KLITE radio personality Catherine Remak serving up food and shenanigans. After the dinner, we were entertained by Heather Stevenson, Petracovich, and Antara and Delilah. The event raised more than $8,000 for Body Electric's programs.

** At the end of the month, our Women's Sports Book Project donated books featuring female athletic role models to all local public high schools and middle schools. The two books are biographies of WNBA player Chamique Holdsclaw and sailor Tania Aebi, who sailed around the world solo at the age of 18. Thank you to everyone who sponsored and participated in our events this year! To see the photos, please visit our website!

KATHLEEN'S JOURNAL

Part two in a series, the following is an excerpt of the journal of Kathleen Horton, a woman with a typical list of many competing priorities: job, spouse, children and personal time among them.

With our journal series we bring you the challenges and accomplishments of an average woman: someone who, like all of us, balances a life full of work, play, friends, family and occasional struggle.

We hope you find inspiration in their daily endeavors, and perhaps decide to try something new and challenging yourself!

January 1: A great way to start the new year with a brisk walk on the Ventura boardwalk with my mother while Tommy slept in the stroller. It seemed liked hundreds of surfers, men and women, were enjoying the fun waves.

January 4: We've decided to end our YMCA membership due to the current lack of kid programs that appeal to Madeline.

Clubs are expensive - I'm still searching for a pool, but schedules and dollars are not coordinating.

January 10: It's finally staying light out a little later in the evening - dog walks feel great at night.

January 12: Evening dog walk - Madeline rode her scooter, came home and she was ready to do homework!

January 14: Biked with TJ to our playgroup then followed the trash truck for a 1/2 hour. He and I were happy with the ride.

January 15: Took the dogs to Haskell's Beach - great one-hour walk. Well worth the wet dog smell in the van.

January 19: My friend Nancy called out of the blue for a Sunday morning walk around our neighborhood. Lasted an hour while we caught up about kids and jobs.

January 21: Rode TJ on the bike to do light grocery shopping. TJ fell asleep on the way home so his head was supported by the groceries.

January 23: Did the TJ stroller walk to local shopping center. It was warm out but we enjoyed racing the mail carrier. I underestimated the time, so we were gone 1 1/2 hours.

January 25: Madeline scootered while I walked our dogs and visited with our dog-walking neighbor. Nice way to socialize.

February7: Finally gave in to my urge to scrub the floor on my hands and knees - boy, was I sweating. Very rewarding to have a clean floor and exercise.

February 9: Rode my bike to pick up our dinner. Got back just as it got dark - I like riding for my dinner! Earlier we rode our bikes to drop off Madeline at a bowling alley birthday party. We could almost pass ourselves off as an active, young family!

CHEERS AND CONDEMNATION GREET REPORT ON GENDER EQUITY

By Welch Suggs, Senior Editor
The Chronicle of Higher Education

The federal commission studying gender equity in sports published its final report last week with all the fanfare one might expectÑalong with far more criticism than the group's leaders had anticipated. The report, from the Secretary's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, calls on U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige to publish clearer guidelines to help schools and colleges comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bans gender discrimination at institutions receiving federal funds.

The report also argues that male athletes have lost opportunities as colleges try to meet Title IX rules, and the commission recommended that the Education Department publish new rules to help male athletes in nonrevenue sports.

Edward A. Leland, co-chair of the commission, said the panel also wanted to call on the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to enforce current rules and guidelines more vigorously, to help redress inequities that female athletes still face throughout the country.

"We heard a lot of arguments that, after 30 years, we're still not there," said Mr. Leland, Athletic Director at Stanford University. "Most of the commissioners would say that we still have much to do to ensure that women have equal opportunities."

However, he said, a majority of the panel's members agreed that Title IX was in need of an in-depth review and that the civil rights office's enforcement of the law needed some "adjusting."

Those themes in the group's final report prompted a swirl of controversy. Advocates for male sports Ð some of whom are suing the Education Department over its Title IX rules Ð said that they were pleased with the commission's work, but that its recommendations did not go far enough. Advocates for women's sports said the proposals would deal women a terrible setback in scholastic and collegiate athletic departments.

Unanimous endorsements

Mr. Paige said that the department would "move forward" on only the 15 recommendations that received unanimous approval from the commissioners. But that approach was not enough to satisfy advocates like Marcia D. Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center. She said that any uncertainty in the law would prompt colleges to put plans to expand opportunities for female athletes on hold while new rules were developed and debated in the Education Department and maybe even in the courts.

The recommendations are a mix of boilerplate and revolution. Many are exhortations to the Department of Education to be clearer and more consistent in the Title IX regulations it enforces. The recommendations call on the department to reject anything that would undermine enforcement of current regulations, and to state that eliminating men's teams for the purpose of Title IX compliance is a "disfavored practice."

However, they also call on the department to restructure the "three-part test" used by institutions to determine if they are offering adequate participation opportunities for female athletes.

Colleges have three options for demonstrating compliance: The number of male and female athletes must be proportional to the number of male and female undergraduates, respectively; an institution must have a "history and continuing practice of program expansion" that furthers women's interests; or it must prove that it has "fully and effectively accommodated" the interests and abilities of its female students.

The first option is a threshold test. If an institution meets the test, it is presumed to be in compliance. If not, it must comply with one of the other two tests.

One unanimous recommendation calls for that hierarchy to be eliminated and for each of the three tests to be treated with equal weight. Another suggests that a "sunset" policy be added to the second test, so a college complying with it would eventually have to meet the first or third tests as well. And a third recommendation calls for the department to seek other ways for institutions to show compliance beyond the three-part test.

If the department does so, it could spark a protracted regulatory and legal battle, said Ms. Greenberger. "After 20 years of litigation, the courts have been constant" in defending the Education Department's Title IX policies, she said. Any changes to those policies would have to be re-examined and quite possibly relitigated.

Minority Report

Ms. Greenberger spoke at a news briefing to announce that two commissioners, Donna de Varona and Julie Foudy of the Women's Sports Foundation, were releasing a minority report.

In it, they said that the commission did not "compile all the evidence necessary to fully address the state of gender equity in our nation's schools, and did not allow sufficient time for commissioners to conduct either a careful review of the evidence that was compiled or an assessment of the potential impact of the various recommendations."

They also published their own set of recommendations, many of which parallel the recommendations in the main part of the commission's report. For example, they said the Education Department should do more to educate schools about Title IX's requirements and to make clear that cutting men's teams is not a favored option.

Also at the news conference, actors Geena Davis and Holly Hunter announced a national campaign to educate the public about Title IX and the commission's recommendations, while four Democratic senators Ð Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Patty Murray of Washington, and Harry Reid of Nevada Ð criticized the report as flawed. Mr. Daschle said the commission's recommendations would "slacken our efforts for equal opportunity."

Sen. Murray said she would call on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to hold hearings on the commission and its findings. Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, also released a statement criticizing the majority report.

Cary Groth, a commission member and Athletic Director at Northern Illinois University, said "I think we could have done a better job capturing the conversation and debate regarding the recommendations, and that's what I'm concerned about."

Furthermore, Ms. Groth said, the commission's eight-month term made its members feel rushed from the outset.

"I know we're under a time constraint, but I couldn't help thinking, This is a 30-year-old law, and we're in a hurry? Getting down to nuts and bolts, and really spending more time on the guts of it, might have been helpful," said Ms. Groth.

Arthur L. Coleman, who worked in the Education Department during the Clinton administration, said the report dealt with many criticisms that have long been leveled against the Office for Civil Rights.

"If what the department ultimately puts out is really and truly a clarification ... and it's consistent with prior standards, my supposition is that it would be unlikely to have to go through the formal rule-making process ... ." said Mr. Coleman.

"If the standards are changed, there's an obligation that they actually engage in that process." Education Department officials and commission members said they did not know when any such process would start, or how long it would take.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 7 edition
All content copyright 2003, The Chronicle of Higher Education. All rights reserved.

VOLUNTEER TRAINING, MARCH 29

Body Electric needs your expertise, your extraordinary talents, your special skills!

As a Body Electric volunteer you will:

• meet new people . . .
• get educated about issues relevant to women and girls, such as Title IX and gender equity, and the benefits of physical activity
• educate the community about those issues . . .
• have fun. . .
• have a ready-made network of women with whom to play sports and try new activities . . .
• use your skills and special talents in furthering a great cause . . .
• did we say "have fun?"

To sign up for this free training, e-mail Whitney Scott: whitney@bodyelectric-sb.org
or call 685-1813.