WASHINGTON, D.C.  August 15, 2003 - The College Sports Council (CSC) launched a two-pronged legal offensive in federal court today against the Department of Education.  Following the Administration's refusal to accept the recommendations of the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, the legal action sets the stage for a final showdown over the enforcement of Title IX.      "The government refuses to protect students from the ongoing elimination of athletic opportunities, so the coaches, parents and kids are going to stand up for themselves", said Eric Pearson, CSC Chairman.  "Reasonable people from all corners of education, including the Administration's own Title IX Commission, have been pleading for common sense reforms. We will not be deterred by politicians and gender quota activists who stand in the way of fairness."      Details of the Legal Action      First, CSC asked the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to summarily reverse a district court decision in June to dismiss a challenge to a January 1996 Clinton Administration policy re-interpreting how the Department of Education enforces Title IX.      Second, CSC filed a new lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge a July 2003 Bush Administration decision not to repeal the earlier policy.  The new district court  lawsuit also challenges the Bush Administration's release of, and reliance on, a report prepared by the Secretary Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, which rests on deeply flawed statistics.      The CSC, a national coalition of coaching associations that includes track, swimming, golf, gymnastics, wrestling, and baseball, seeks to eliminate the three-part test used to enforce Title IX.  The three-part test includes a quota that has caused the arbitrary cutting and capping of thousands of athletic programs for men and boys at schools across the country, costing student-athletes both scholarships and their dreams of competition.    "The CSC seeks to restore Title IX to its original intent - providing equal opportunity without    discriminating against any student-athlete of either gender.  We want to stop cuts in opportunities for men and boys, but our campaign supports the continued growth of athletic opportunities for women and girls," Pearson said.  "More teams were added for women and girls without the three-part test than were added when it was in force."      In addition to Title IX, the CSC also seeks to enforce the Data Quality Act, which went into effect on October 1, 2002, and requires federal agencies to ensure the quality of the data that they disseminate and rely on for administrative actions.  When the Administration's Title IX Commission finished its report, CSC immediately filed a Data Quality Act appeal to challenge the report for overstating the gains in women's sports and understating the losses in men's sports.     "Incredibly, the Administration relied on the Commission report to justify the three-part test while we had pending a Data Quality challenge to the Commission report", said Larry Joseph, attorney for the CSC.      The Commission report relies on an earlier General Accounting Office report, issued before the Data Quality Act went into effect.  The reports claim a small net increase (36 teams) for men since 1980,  without recognizing that 134 schools (with hundreds of pre-existing teams) joined the survey group after 1980.  "Just like some of the recent corporate accounting scandals, these reports mask persistent, significant losses with false gains from mergers," said Pearson.      With the Administration backing out of the reform process it started by convening its Title IX Commission, the CSC has determined that litigation is the only way to save athletic opportunities.      "School administrators everywhere know that the only way to be 100% safe under the current Title IX regulations is to comply with the quota," said Pearson.  "This is why the Title IX Commission recommended reform."