"The Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics has just completed two days of important meetings on Title IX here in Washington. These meetings were part of the Commission's mission to examine ways to strengthen enforcement and expand opportunities to ensure fairness for all college athletes.

"I understand that the Commission's report, which the Commission will be sending me at the end of February, is nearing completion. I am very pleased that the Commission has agreed without objection on a number of reforms that will strengthen Title IX.

"These reforms reflect the consensus among the commissioners on steps that we can take to improve Title IX. They include, among others, suggestions that the Department of Education (1) reaffirm its strong commitment to equal opportunity for girls and boys, women and men; (2) aggressively enforce Title IX in a uniform way across the nation; (3) give equal weight to all three parts of the test governing Title IX compliance; and (4) encourage schools to understand that cutting teams in order to comply with Title IX is not a favored practice.

"I would like to thank each of the commissioners for their valuable contributions to this issue and to this nation, and I look forward to receiving their final report."

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