A national commission approved moderate recommendations to change the methods by which colleges and universities can comply with Title IX yesterday, but voted down the most controversial alterations to the enforcement of the landmark gender-equity law.

The proposals will have little direct effect on schools like Harvard that already comply by the current Title IX interpretation, officials say.

Associate Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations John Veneziano said yesterday that the commission’s recommendations would have no effect on Harvard’s offerings of athletic opportunities.

“We offer more intercollegiate athletic programs and intercollegiate athletic opportunities for both men and women, than any other Division I school in he nation,” he said. “That is going to remain constant regardless of Title IX.”

The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics will forward a report containing the recommendations it adopted at this week’s meetings to Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige. It takes an act of Congress to fundamentally change the law, but Paige can alter the way compliance is measured.

At yesterday’s meeting, the commission recommended several changes to the proportionality standard, one of three ways that schools can reach Title IX compliance.

Proportionality requires that the ratio of male to female athletes at colleges and universities be roughly the same as that in the overall student body.

One recommendation approved yesterday would establish a predetermined number of roster spots on each team as the standard for proportionality, rather than the actual number of athletes.

The commission also voted not to count male walk-ons—athletes not recruited—and nontraditional students such as those who are part-time or older as part of a school’s male total. The latter change would mostly affect smaller schools, particularly community colleges.

The commissioners voted to recommend that student-interest surveys be used as a tool to demonstrate Title IX compliance, but voted 8-7 against a proposal that interest surveys on campus be used in lieu of proportionality.

Surveys could be used as an alternate way to seek compliance through prong three—that a school show it is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of women.

The commission also recommended that the Department of Education look into reshaping the second prong of Title IX compliance—that a school shows an ongoing history of broadening opportunities for women. Commissioners wanted to designate a sunset point at which schools can no longer establish compliance through it.

The committee rejected the more controversial changes in Title IX compliance.

For example, the committee voted down the recommendation that the Office of Civil Rights should not use numeric formulas to determine whether an institution is in compliance with Title IX by an 11-4 margin.

But a proposal to allow schools to comply with proportionality by having a 50-50 split of male and female athletes, regardless of the student body makeup, with a leeway of 2 to 3 percentage points, ended on a 7-7 vote.