HEADLINE: Potential Bush nominee under
fire Title IX, civil rights concerns rouse Reynolds' opponents
BYLINE: Kelly Whiteside
BODY: Senate education committee Chairman Edward Kennedy sent a strong signal to President Bush on Tuesday to reconsider his intention to nominate Gerald Reynolds to oversee the federal office that enforces Title IX.
Reynolds'
appointment as assistant secretary of Education for the Office of
Civil Rights could soften the government's enforcement of Title IX legislation, some critics fear. He is a staunch
opponent of affirmative action and has worked for organizations that
have criticized government-mandated advantages for minorities and
women.
Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 and subsequent amendments form a federal civil
rights statute that prohibits sex discrimination in education
programs, including sports, that receive federal funding.
If the president ignores the signal, Reynolds
might be in for a difficult Senate battle. Kennedy is chairman of
the committee that would hold confirmation hearings on Reynolds'
nomination and would vote on whether to send his nomination to the
Senate floor. Senate rules allow any senator to place a "hold" on
a presidential nomination, effectively blocking action on it.
Aides to Kennedy said the senator has not ruled out such a move.
"I have serious concerns about Gerald
Reynolds as the nominee," Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement
released to USA TODAY.
"Many civil rights
groups and education groups have raised questions about his serious
lack of education policy experience, as well as his views on
affirmative action," Kennedy said.
Sen.
Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the ranking Republican member of the committee,
expressed support for Bush's candidate in the wake of Kennedy's
comments. "We hope that the majority will not prejudge this
candidate but rather give him the opportunity to have a hearing and
to seriously discuss qualification for this critical position," Gregg said. "This is simply too important an issue for
partisanship."
Opportunities for women in
high school and college sports multiplied in the wake of Title IX.
For example, 294,015 girls participated in high school sports in
1971. In 2000, 2.67 million girls participated. However, Title IX is
also controversial because it has been blamed for cuts in funding
for men's sports.
Some organizations have
opposed Reynolds' nomination because of the potential impact it
could have on Title IX.
"We're very
concerned about the nomination because, while we don't know the
nominee's position on all of the issues that are important to Title
IX, his very dogged opposition to affirmative action is very
problematic for women and girls in education," said Marcia
Greenberger, founder and co-president of the National Women's Law
Center, a non-profit advocacy organization that has had a focus on
Title IX since the center's founding in 1972.
"The fact that (Reynolds) comes with stated opposition to such a critical element of civil rights enforcement of the laws he would be charged with overseeing and interpreting is very
problematic," she said.
Reynolds, 38, who is African-American, has been senior regulatory counsel at Kansas City Power and Light and was president of the Center for New Black Leadership, a conservative non-profit
organization.
***
Contributing: Kathy Kiely and Judy Keen
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Color, Bill Perry; PHOTO, Color,
Mario Tama, Agence France-Presse (page 1C); Kennedy: "Serious concerns."
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