After hearing testimony at four hearings across the country and sifting through mounds of statistics and data, the Secretary's Commission on Athletic Opportunity tipped its hand today in what the future of Title IX might hold.  The commission made its long awaited preliminary recommendation on day two of the Philadelphia meeting.    The recommendations that were made on Wednesday are not the final recommendations that will be presented to the Secretary of Education on January 31 but were instead the preferred recommendation(s) of eachcommissioner.  The recommendations that were made will be discussed further and voted on at the final meeting in Washington D.C. on January 8.  Each commissioner was given the opportunity to present his or her recommendations about Title IX.  Each recommendation was debated and if applicable amended before being agreed upon that it will be discussed and voted on at the January 8 hearing.    Unlike on Tuesday, Wednesday's hearing was much less acrimonious in nature as the commissioners debated the recommendations.  While the debate was much friendlier the battle lines were easily drawn as many of the recommendations were in direct conflict to one another.  The strongest debate centered around proportionality and the use of the surveys to measure interest.    Ted Leland, Co-Chair of the commission, made the first volley of the day in regards to proportionality when he recommended that the OCR set an arbitrary number of participation slots for each sport.  He believed that this would be an alternative way of measuring participation. Leland's recommendation would allow for teams to carry unlimited walkons and not have them count against their numbers.  In Leeland's proposal, if a women's soccer team was to have 30 participation slots and only used 25 it would still be counted as 30, while if the wrestling team had 35 participation spots and had 45 wrestlers on the program the participation number would still only be counted as 35 wrestlers.  Leland believed that that this would eliminate roster management and false numbers.  Penn State President Graham Spanier concurred that this would be a good idea but the methology to come up with the participation numbers must be well thought out.  In what was the theme of the day again, Women's Sports Foundation, Julie Foudy was against the recommendation because of the lack of recruiting budget that women currently receive. Throughout the day, Foudy would be against any recommendation that moved away from strict proportionality.    University of Maryland, Athletic Director Deborah Yow made one of the more innovative recommendations when she felt that each school should be at a 50% participation ratio and then have a 5-7% variance from that.  Yow felt that the variance would then be able to accommodate the walk-on athletes on the male programs while improving opportunities for female athletes.  This would allow a school to be at 53% male participation rates and still be in compliance no matter what the female enrollment was at the institution. There was an agreement that this method could not apply to all institutions such as the Military Academies and some of the land grant schools.    Foudy was again against the recommendation as she felt that there was too great of a variance and that proportionality should be completely in line with enrollment rates.  This brought about one of the stronger exchanges of the day, when Yow said to Foudy that she must learn to compromise and she can't get everything she wants.    BYU General Counsel, Tom Griffith also recommended that that OCR clarify what is substantial proportionality versus strict proportionality.  Griffith believed in a recommendation that would use substantial proportionality with a 7-9% variance.  Foudy again felt that was too great of a variance.  Foudy was clearly running the Women's Sports Foundation playbook throughout the weekend.    Realizing that proportionality is currently the only safe harbor, Graham Spanier recommended abandoning the safe harbor.  He felt that all three prongs should be balanced and used equally and that there should be specific guidance to each prong.  He believed this way a school has more flexibility in achieving compliance.  Later in the day Spanier concurred on a recommendation by OCR Director, Gerald Reynolds that prong two needs to be modified and then adding a sunshine rule.    Some of the more spirited debate of the day involved the use of surveys to measure interest and ability.  Co-chair Cynthia Cooper recommended that schools routinely survey students to measure the interest.  She believed the commission should adopt a model that was used at LSU.  Gerald Reynolds agreed with Cooper, as he felt that enrollment is a presumptuous indicator not a fact.  This brought about a sharp response from Foudy who felt that women should not have to prove interest.  She felt that this took women back to the days of when they had to prove they had the right to vote.  Dr. Rita Simon quickly refuted Foudy's comments by saying that surveys are a great indicator of interest and they could even possibly be used a motivator to spur greater interest in female athletics. Cary Groth also disapproved the use of surveys but the majority of the commission believes they are a good indicator.    Foudy made her own recommendations to the commission, which included curtailing the arms race in basketball and football. While there was an agreement that there are spending issues in these sports, there were anti-trust laws, which complicate the matter.  Foudy also recommended that the commission should not re-shape or eliminate policy that undermines the spirit of Title IX.    Several of the commissioners made recommendations about the Office of Civil Rights and their handling of Title IX issues.  The commission seemed to be an agreement that that OCR must provide clear and concise guidelines on using the three-part test.  They recommended that the OCR must become more consistent in its handling of Title IX cases along with using stronger enforcement for schools who are found not to be in compliance.    One of the more compelling moments of the day came from Dr. Rita Simon when she spoke about how moved she was from the testimony of athletes and coaches from wrestling and gymnastics that lost their programs.  Simon spoke that it is imperative that the commission makes sure that their voices are heard when the findings and recommendations are presented.  It must be reflected in the report.    Secretary of Education Rod Paige made an appearance at Wednesday's hearings and made brief comments to the commission.  He thanked the commission for their hard and diligent work.  He spoke about how this is a difficult issue but it is something that will help all Americans and that we are fortunate to live in a country where we can debate such topics.    The next step in the commission is for the OCR to take the findings and recommendations that were presented in Philadelphia and have them prepared to be debated and voted on at the Washington D.C. hearing on January 8. This hearing promises to be highly debated and contentious as many of the recommendations are at conflict with one another.  That will be the final hearing before the commission offers its report to the Department of Education on January 31, 2003.