A little Title IX history:

The three-part test for compliance was first instituted in 1979. In 1996, the Clinton administration issued this clarification regarding the test. In 2003, after the commission did its work, the Bush administration issued this clarification.

And here is last Friday's clarification letter.

I'm still trying to understand how big last week's change is -- the news reporting has been particularly unhelpful in that regard, and it's not easy to sift through the propaganda statements from both sides. So taking a close look at these documents is the only way to know.

My tentative sense right now is that the biggest change has nothing to do with the surveys. Rather, the big change is that while the old policy essentially put the burden of showing compliance on schools, the new policy puts the burden of showing noncompliance on women. Further, it erects a high standard for showing noncompliance.

It will take some more work and some closer reading to sort this out. In the mean time, if you're interested in some of the technical stuff, see the debate going on in comments at Off Wing.