The Boston Globe denounces this year's controversial new Title IX rule, which permits colleges to gauge demand for women's sports through an email survey, rather than by older (arguably more stringent) measures.

The feds say the new rule, which they dub a "clarification," will stand. The NCAA reacts:

"The NCAA and others strongly believe the e-mail survey suggested in the Department of Education’s clarification will not provide an adequate indicator of interest among young women to participate in college sports, nor does [the survey] encourage young women to participate – a failure that will likely stymie the growth of women’s athletics and could reverse the progress made over the last 30 years....

"NCAA members are urged to decline use of the procedures set forth in the March 17, 2005, Additional Clarification [i.e. the email survey] and abide by the standards of the 1996 Clarification to evaluate women’s interest in sports under the third prong of the three-part test, which standards anticipate the use of a multiplicity of tools and analyses to measure that interest."

The NCAA's late-June announcement may explain why this story has grown new legs. NCAA prez Myles Brand attacked the rule change back in March.