14 November 2002    Ted Leland and Cynthia Cooper, co-chairs  The Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics  400 Maryland Avenue, SW.  ROB3 Room 3060  Washington, DC 20202    Dear co-chairs Leland and Cooper:    USA Wrestling is the national governing body for amateur wrestling in the United States. We represent over 150,000 members which includes athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and fans who participate in the sport of wrestling.     USA Wrestling is pleased that the Department of Education has created the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to review Title IX and its effectiveness. By allowing the public to provide input about the law and its enforcement, we are confident that Title IX will better serve our country in the future.    USA Wrestling supports Title IX, a law passed by Congress in 1972 to provide equal opportunity in educational programs. The intent of the law is to ban discrimination in education and provide for fair opportunity to all.     Title IX is a good law that is being enforced in a way that is very bad and unfair. The unintended consequences of the law's enforcement are harming sports opportunities. The problem is proportionality, the enforcement mechanism which is a strict gender quota and should be abolished. Congress never intended for the law to be used as a quota system, nor did Congress support the elimination of sports opportunities in its name.    In 1999, USA Wrestling's Executive Committee approved a consensus statement concerning Title IX, which was passed in an effort to unify the Olympic sports community on the issue. Although this statement was developed prior to the creation of the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, we completely stand behind this position.    We submit this statement as USA Wrestling's official position concerning Title IX, and ask that you share this statement with all of the members of the Commission.     We appreciate the efforts of the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. USA Wrestling leaders, including volunteers and staff, have had an opportunity to participate in the public Town Hall meetings. We have closely followed the work of the Commission and eagerly anticipate its findings.    May you have the wisdom to fairly evaluate the information that you have received, and the courage to make whatever changes are needed to benefit the nation.    Sincerely,    Rich Bender  Executive Director    cc: Rod Paige, Secretary of Education   Gerald Reynolds, Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights   Brian Jones, General Counsel   Debbie Price, Executive Director of The Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics   Lou Goldstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for Policy   All Commissioners on The Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics    OFFICIAL USA WRESTLING POSITION ON TITLE IX    CONSENSUS STATEMENT    As a national governing body of amateur sports, USA Wrestling is committed to equality for all to participate in athletics. We support Title IX, a law passed by Congress in 1972 to provide equal opportunity in educational programs. We believe that the positive benefits of athletic competition should be available to every person, regardless of gender. We strive to provide men and women athletes with the necessary resources, programs and support to achieve their dreams.    In this spirit of fairness, we oppose any and all interpretations and enforcement procedures that allow for the elimination of men's athletic opportunities to achieve Title IX compliance. The elimination of men's programs, as a method to reach a numerical quota, is wrong, and does nothing to develop sports opportunities for women or men. The original intent of Title IX was to provide athletic opportunities for all, not to deny opportunity from anybody.    CONSENSUS MISSION    As a national governing body of amateur sports, we are dedicated to preserve and promote opportunities for all to participate in athletics on the youth, high school, college and elite levels.    CONSENSUS GOALS    * To revise the current Title IX interpretation and enforcement, so all athletes receive fair opportunities to compete.    * To eliminate the use of quotas as a way to develop equal opportunity in sports.    * To protect and develop men's and women's Olympic sports programs on the college and high school level.    * To educate the public about the challenges faced by Olympic sports in colleges and high schools, and inform citizens how they can help affect change.    * To work directly with all sports facing similar challenges, in order to provide a more powerful and unified presence in the public forum.    * To publicize the positive values of Olympic sports in our society, and provide information about their powerful impact on America's youth.    * To educate coaches in all Olympic sports, by developing administrative and public relations skills, to help strengthen and perpetuate the programs at their institutions.