A Title IX godfather inspires “dadflies”

Herb Dempsey is a Title IX “godfather” who has inspired other gadfly fathers — dubbed “dadflies” by Sports Illustrated — to fight for equity in education for at least 30 years. In honor of Fathers Day this month and to celebrate the 52nd birthday of Title IX on June 23, I’ve put together a video of Dempsey talking about one of his favorite topics — fairness. It’s also my way of honoring the many thousands of citizen-volunteers who have organized and advocated for equity under Title IX through the decades.

Why do I call Dempsey a godfather of Title IX? This 1972 law had two legislative parents — Rep. Edith Green (D-OR) and Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN) — who crafted the bill and led to its passage. Along the way, though, and ever since, Title IX has had numerous godmothers and godfathers who nurtured it, helped it try to reach its full potential, protected it and fought for it. On the godmothers side there are too many to name: Bernice Sandler; Margaret Dunkle; Marcia Greenberger; Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink; Margot Polivy; Holly Knox; Diane Milutinovich; Pamela Price, and so many more. I’ve featured many of them on this blog and in my book.

On the godfathers side, they are fewer but also important: Vincent Macaluso; Harry Hogan; Rep. Walter Mondale; Gavin Grimm, and more. And, of course, Dempsey. He chose Title IX compliance monitoring as his hobby when he retired from teaching and law enforcement in the 1990s. He called and wrote to schools and the federal Office for Civil Rights, when needed, whenever and wherever he saw inequities in education. Usually that was in athletics, which is easiest for an outsider like Dempsey to assess. Occasionally, though, he’s gone to bat on non-athletic inequities. At one school, for example, boys who earned straight-A grades received a notation calling them “excellent students,” while girls with straight-As got a notation that read, “tries hard.” Says Dempsey, “We changed that.”

When the media covered his doings, girls and parents and grandparents from all over the country called or wrote to ask for his help. He communicated with a small army of honorary “Old Guys for Title IX” who fought for their daughters or granddaughters just like the fathers of the 1970s who initiated most of the early sex-discrimination lawsuits in athletics. And he’s still at it. Now close to 90 years old, Dempsey told me that he was involved in four “voluntary resolutions” just last week, which are agreements by educational institutions to make the changes necessary to comply with Title IX.

Not everyone appreciates it when Dempsey files a Title IX complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. For example, some lawyers at the National Women’s Law Center — which is probably the strongest Title IX advocate over decades — see Dempsey’s complaints as clogging up the legal pipeline and delaying federal consideration of bigger, better-researched cases with potentially bigger impact.

I’d say much of Dempsey’s best impact comes from his work that precedes filing a federal complaint, when he embodies that other meaning of a Godfather — one who makes school administrators an offer they can’t refuse. (Note to young people: See the move The Godfather.) He knows the educational institution is violating the law, and the school administrators know they’re violating the law, and they’ll have to make changes if they don’t want him to file the dreaded Title IX complaint. He starts with the school’s athletics director and is willing to move on to Human Resources, or the college’s president, and its board of trustees, and the media.

As Herb says, “I’m willing to talk about it” instead of ignore it. Which may be his superpower. And it could be yours, too.

Elsewhere

Legal battles are escalating over the Biden administration’s revised Title IX regulations. One federal judge has temporarily blocked their implementation in four states, and another temporarily blocked it in six more states. A Texas judge struck down Title IX protections for LGBTQ students.

That’s not the end of any of those stories, of course. The revised regulations will go live in most states this summer, and legal protectors of Title IX will fight the court fights.

Most importantly, it’s an election year. Who we elect in November to the White House and Congress will make all the difference in Title IX history to come. Be sure to vote — and get out the vote.