When Congress enacted Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§1681 et seq., it forever changed the landscape of interscholastic and intercollegiate sports. Although as the recent lawsuit regarding the status of Quinnipiac University's women's volleyball team makes clear, disputes pertaining to gender-based athletic equity still arise, what some originally feared would rend the fabric of school athletics is now recognized as one of its most integral strands. Public school districts, however, are now facing demands for a different form of equitable athletic opportunity, a challenge that could usher in the most dramatic change to school athletics since Title IX's passage 41 years ago.
On January 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights [OCR] issued a "Dear Colleague" letter, or DCL, regarding the obligation of public schools to provide equitable athletic opportunities to disabled students. As the salutation suggests, the OCR characterizes the letter as a form of collegial "guidance," a friendly conversation between equals. This "guidance" consists of OCR – which has broad investigatory powers and the power to sanction public school districts, including the possible termination of federal funding — warning academic institutions how it interprets and intends to enforce those laws it has been charged to implement.
