This Amendment prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal funding. Since almost all colleges and universities receive some form of federal funding, they must comply with the requirements.

The statute seems simple enough. But interpreting it has been problematic and controversial. In 1979, the Office of Civil Rights issued a Policy Interpretation, which created a three-part standard of compliance. Title IX requires that: (1) athletically related financial assistance be allocated in proportion to the numbers of male and female students participating in intercollegiate sports; (2) all other benefits, opportunities, and treatment afforded participants of each sex be equivalent; and (3) the interests and abilities of students be effectively accommodated to the extent necessary to provide equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes.

Cohen v. Brown University, 991 F.2d 888 (1^st Cir. 1993), set the standard for Title IX compliance. The case attempted to interpret "effective accommodation." A student, Amy Cohen brought suit in response to Brown University's decision to eliminate women's volleyball and gymnastics teams. In applying the "effective accommodation" test, the court held the Brown University violated Title IX. The "effective accommodation" test, quoting the Policy Interpretation, "was said to be a high standard demanding universities to provide full and effective accommodation where interest and ability exist to sustain a viable team and a reasonable expectation of intercollegiate competition for that team." The court further stated 'an institution that offers women a smaller number of athletic opportunities than the statute requires may not rectify that violation simply by lavishing more resources on those women or achieving equivalents in other respects. Cohen, 991 F.2d at 897. The Cohen interpretation stands for the belief "that equal opportunity can be afforded by colleges and universities through a broad array of teams that reflect the relative interests and abilities of both sexes."

However, this view has been controversial. A number of schools have been forced to eliminate men's programs as a means to maintain "effective accommodation."

According to a recent article in the Kentucky Law Journal, 87 KY. L.J. 793 (1999), "over the last decades, Title IX has enabled more women to participate in college athletics than ever before. Recently, as budgets have tightened, colleges have chosen to meet the requirements of Title IX by cutting non-revenue men's sports and leaving the number of women who participate at the status quo."