The Nomination of Margaret Spellings to be Secretary of Education

THE NOMINATION OF MARGARET SPELLINGS TO BE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION -- (Senate - January 20, 2005)

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I do not want to turn this into a bouquet-tossing process, but I also want to commend our friend from Wyoming. I think he is going to do an excellent job in his new position. At the end of last year, we got a little bit more flexibility in terms of the interpretation of Leave No Child Behind Act because of the efforts with respect to hiring of rural teachers, and I thank him for his work on that, and certainly the bipartisan firm of Senators KENNEDY, DODD, ENZI, and ALEXANDER is a force to contend with, and I am looking forward very much to working with them.

The confirmation of the Secretary of Education by the Senate, important as it is, is not the only important development in American education this week. I am sure many of our colleagues have heard about the remarks made by Harvard President Larry Summers this week, remarks that in effect said women may be underrepresented in math and sciences because of innate differences between men and women.

I spoke with Dr. Summers this morning. He made it clear to me that he is acutely aware that remarks he intended to be thought-provoking crossed the line. He knows that as president of one of America's most distinguished institutions, his views are heard worldwide. I expect he will continue to express his contrition to the Harvard community and educators around the country.

I have devoted a lot of time to this issue myself. In 2002, when I became chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, I pursued this issue on a bipartisan basis, particularly with Senator Allen of Virginia. Today I ask my colleagues the question of what ought to be on the table at this point, and that is what is going to be done now, what is going to be done immediately, to create more opportunities for girls and women to advance in science, math, engineering, and related fields?

It is very seldom, when a problem such as this comes up, that there is literally a tool right at our fingertips to solve the problem, but in studying this issue, in holding hearings on this issue, I became convinced that title IX of the Education Act can be the key to ensuring gender equity in critical academic fields for women.

Here is how title IX reads: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

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It means any institution receiving Federal funds must make sure that women are treated equitably.

In the Senate, and certainly around the country, there is a common misconception that title IX is about sports. I think very few people are aware that primarily, at its roots, it is an academic statute. Athletics are certainly where we have seen the most progress under title IX. Before title IX, 1 in 17 girls in school played sports. Now it is 1 in 2.5, or 40 percent.

So I ask my colleagues, imagine if those same changes could be seen in math, science, and engineering, from the 20 percent of science undergraduates who are women today, to 40 percent or 50 percent; from the 6 percent of engineering professors who are women today to 40 percent.

The potential of title IX is enormous. Enforcing it in academic fields could revolutionize the study and application of math and science in our country.

Educators of good conscience should not wait for a Federal reprimand to comply with a Federal law that benefits all of us. Title IX ought to be a guiding principle in hiring, tenure, scholarships, and lab space for all scholars on all the academic campuses around our country. Title IX can finally give women studying science a fair shake where they have not gotten one before. It does not sound like a tall order, but it is not happening. Unfortunately, the Federal Government is not taking the lead in terms of tackling the issue.

For example, I asked the General Accounting Office to examine whether the Federal Government is following the law and enforcing title IX. What the General Accounting Office found was disappointing at best. They looked at the Department of Education, NASA, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation, and they found that little or no efforts were being made to ensure compliance with title IX requirements for grantees getting Federal dollars.

Of all the agencies reviewed, the Department of Education was the only Federal agency that conducted any title IX compliance reviews. But they have not conducted a single review--not one--since 1995.

The Federal Government is not doing its part to ensure that title IX is being enforced for women and girls with the ability and the desire to work in math and science. I have asked Secretary of Education Paige and the President that title IX be enforced as intended. But today, colleagues, I formally call on the individual who will shortly be confirmed as the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, to work to ensure that girls and women in our federally funded schools do not suffer discrimination in math and the sciences. I will tell you, it is an issue of economics, and it is also an issue of national security. A report from the Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security to 2025 warned that America's failure to invest in science and to reform math and science education was the second biggest threat to our national security. It warned that only the threat of a weapon of mass destruction in an American city was a greater danger. In fact, the Commission unanimously concluded that the danger from underinvesting in math and science and failing to reform math and science education was greater than the danger from any conceivable conventional war.

I do not see how America can meet its national security needs if it is not giving women a fair shake as it relates to opportunity in math and science. So on this Inauguration Day, I call on the new Education Secretary, the individual we will shortly confirm, to take this message of economic fairness and national security to heart.

The remarks that Dr. Summers has made, which have triggered such debate, have generated a new and important discussion about this issue. As the Senate confirms a new Education Secretary, I believe there is no better time to return our attention to the issue of how this body can advance opportunities for women in math and science, not by writing any new laws but by enforcing the laws on the books.

Colleagues, I would say--our new chair is here--it is one thing if Chairman Enzi has to get together with Senator Kennedy and Senator Alexander and Senator Dodd and write a whole new law. Here we have a law on the books, but the conception is that it is just for sports, and it has been a good sports statute. What I am saying is we can revolutionize opportunities for women in math and science if we use the law as it was originally intended.

Go talk to our former colleague, Senator Birch Bayh. Senator Bayh, who testified before my subcommittee, said this was primarily an academic statute, and he would very much like to see it used for opportunities for women.

The conversation I had with Dr. Summers this morning certainly was not over when we hung up the phones. What began as a controversy this week I hope is going to end with a bipartisan effort, like the one that Senator Allen and I launched several years ago, to make sure there are more opportunities for women and girls to enter the math and science fields. That is what I intend to pursue. I intend to do it on a bipartisan basis, working with our new chair and colleagues whom I know share this interest.

I yield the floor.

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Mr. WYDEN. I want to say first of all, I am talking about enforcing a law that is on the books. All I am talking about is the original intent of a law that is on the books,

which is applied primarily to the academic field--not sports.

I want it understood that I am not talking about anything new. I am talking about enforcing the law that is on the books.

Second, making sure that I am specific with respect to what the Senator from Tennessee has said, all I am talking about is that women would get an equal shot at all of the slots in math and science. We know there can be different results based upon the qualifications of an individual. And universities don't need to have the exact same number of men and women for every position on their faculties. But what I want us to do--and what title IX is all about--is make sure that women have an equal shot at all of the slots that are available. It seems to me, if we don't do that, we are not complying with the law that is on the books.

I will tell you that we are not going to be able to meet the economic and national security needs of our country.

The Senator from Tennessee is always very gracious. I am anxious to work with him in these areas. I want to make sure and emphasize that I am talking about equal opportunity--an equal shot. That is the call that I am making today on the floor of the Senate.

I yield the floor.

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