A closer look at Title IX in Fresno

I’m jazzed to announce that I’ll be speaking about Title IX history particularly in the context of Fresno, Calif. at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on Saturday, August 4, at Santa Clara (Calif.) University.

Photo by  David Jordan at en.wikipedia

I’ll be part of a session entitled “Memories of Political and Cultural Protest” with two other speakers who will focus on campus protests in Paris in 1968 and campus anti-war activism in California’s Silicon Valley from 1965 to 1980.

My talk ties the past to the present with the title, “Uppity Women, Nasty Women: From Title IX to #metoo in Fresno, Calif.” Here’s a preview from the abstract:

“Much of the written history of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which outlawed sex discrimination in education, focuses on people and events in East Coast institutions, especially Ivy League colleges, the U.S. Congress, federal power structures, and the Washington, D.C. offices of feminist organizations. These foci shade historical accounts toward stories of predominantly white protagonists with upper socioeconomic status, but Title IX and feminism reached much farther and wider. This paper focuses on developments in Fresno, Calif., a multicultural, semirural, predominantly agricultural community. It explores how California State University, Fresno both fought and adopted Title IX, affecting the college and the surrounding community. The Fresno story echoes themes in overall Title IX history – from early feminist battles to ongoing struggles around athletics and sexual harassment – but with local inflections. A more grass-roots political orientation and Latinx cultural influences shape Fresno’s Title IX history in site-specific ways. Through this perspective we gain a greater appreciation for Title IX’s role in the broader feminist movement and how local developments in feminism shaped Title IX’s impact away from East Coast halls of power.”

Diane Milutinovich (right) and Title IX “godmother” Bernice Sandler in Fresno, November 2014. (Photo by Sherry Boschert)

Interesting ties between Fresno and Title IX keep popping up in research for my book on the history of Title IX. I’ll save the good stuff for the talk, but it’s worth noting that Fresno still keeps appearing in news about Title IX.

Recently, for instance, three female coaches sued the State Center Community College District for sex discrimination under Title IX. They coach at Fresno City College and Reedley College. But they may have been inspired in part by successful Title IX lawsuits in 2006-2007 by athletics staff at California State University, Fresno who won millions of dollars. The university settled with former Associate Athletics Director Diane Milutinovich for $3.5 million and trials awarded $4.52 million to one coach and $19.1 million to another.

An interesting side note: “Today, sex discrimination lawsuits filed by coaches are more common than those filed by athletes (probably because coaches incur more economic damages and hold their jobs for longer than students are athletes). Often, however, these lawsuits expose discriminatory practices that affect athletes and can lead to systemic change,” law professor Erin Buzuvis writes on the Title IX Blog.

Nationwide, discrimination in athletics is the top reason every year for Title IX complaints to the federal Office for Civil Rights.

Sexual harassment and assault issues dominate headlines about Title IX, though, and Fresno has its own interesting history in that regard. One example: Students there consulted Title IX “godmother” Bernice Sandler on the topic when Sandler visited in 2014. (See the video here.)

I’m also happy to report that I just returned from another fascinating and productive research trip to Washington, D.C., where I interviewed several subjects involved in the most recent decade of Title IX controversy around sexual assaults — including some leaders of Know Your IX and Surv Justice as well as former Office for Civil Rights chief Catherine E. Lhamon, now chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

For now, though, my thoughts turn to Fresno. Time for another visit there!