Celebrating activists from Title IX history
In honor of Title IX’s 50th anniversary on June 23, my blog posts this month will feature the voices of activists from Title IX history who I had the pleasure of interviewing for my book 37 Words. First up: the “godparents” of Title IX, Bernice Resnick Sandler and Vincent Macaluso. You can read my previous posts about them at links I’ll post below the videos. Listen to them talk about the origins of events that led to Title IX in the following video snippets from 2014 and 2015.
Read more on my blog about Sandler here and here and, of course, in my book because Sandler is one of three major characters in 37 Words. Read more about Macaluso here.
Elsewhere
USA Today has published a stream of great reporting this spring related to Title IX, including their latest story about the problems with colleges requiring non-disclosure agreements from Title IX complainants. Thirty-five civil rights organizations sent a letter demanding that the Education Department investigate this practice. Threats of violence continue against Kiel, Wisc. and the city had to evacuate buildings even though its school district closed the Title IX investigation that the terrorist(s) have used as an excuse for their threats.
Two men sued the Norfolk (Va.) State University for maintaining a culture of sexual assault in its football program that led to them being assaulted by team members. A separate lawsuit claims that San Diego State University ignored reports of rapes by its football players. Five women who recently graduated from Canisius College, a Catholic Jesuit college in Buffalo, N.Y., sued the school for ignoring reports of sexual harassment by a professor and then allegedly retaliating against the students. College employees can sue their employers under Title IX for intentional gender-based discrimination, a federal appeals court ruled. The president of California State University, Sonoma resigned followed controversy around her handling of sexual harassment complaints against her husband. Parents and students sued Knox County (Tenn.) schools for sex discrimination, focusing on sports and resources.
On the up side
A sit-in by students, staff, and alumni of Seattle Pacific University reached the 10-day mark, and protesters vowed to continue until the university rescinds its policy that allows discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees.
Where you’ll find me
June 9, 6:00 p.m. PT — Join me and Lucy Jane Bledsoe, author of the new Young Adult novel No Stopping Us Now, in conversation with teenage student activist Lily J. in a virtual event hosted by Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco.
June 14, 6:00 p.m. ET — I’ll be in Washington, D.C. for a Title IX 50th Anniversary event hosted by the National Women’s Law Center, speaking with NWLC President Fatima Goss Graves, civil rights lawyer Pamela Price, and End Rape on Campus Executive Director Kenyora Parham.
June 22 — Lucy Jane Bledsoe and I will Zoom with residents of Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, Calif.
June 23, 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET — It’s Title IX’s 50th birthday! I’ll be Zooming with members of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) to celebrate. Read details here. And watch a 30-second promo video with moi here.
July 10, 8:00 a.m. ET — Tel Aviv University in Israel hosts a day-long Title IX symposium, and I’ll be on a virtual panel about Title IX and athletics.
*** Would you like to set up an in-person or Zoom session with me for your organization or book club? Reach me through my Contact page.***
Read about the Supreme Court’s history of curtailing Title IX and other civil rights laws in my article in The Washington Post Made by History section, published May 9, 2022. I am delighted that former Chancellor of the University of Illinois, Springfield Susan Koch wrote a glowing review of 37 Words in the Des Moines Register. The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5, which introduces Title IX’s application by the movement against sexual violence. The Washington Monthly gave 37 Words a fine review — check it out! The Wall Street Journal published a review of my book and I wrote a Letter to the Editor correcting some misinformation in that review.
My virtual fireside chat with Kenyora Parham, executive director of End Rape on Campus, gives a good overview of the book and shares video clips of interviews with some of the book’s main characters. The New York Historical Society’s Center for Women’s History & Academic Affairs posted a discussion with me and some of the earliest Title IX activists, available on YouTube. If you registered for the American Historical Association 2022 conference, you can watch a video that will be available through June of our panel session on “Fifty Years of Title IX: Evolutions in the Struggle Against Sex Discrimination in Education.”
The Washington, D.C. chapter of the National Organization for Women interviewed me on the DC NOW podcast. Here’s a Facebook Live video of my book launch event at the Norwich Bookstore, though you may want to just listen instead of watch because the first four minutes are sideways. (Oops!) It’s still a wonderful discussion with Kate Rohdenburg of WISE.
Lastly, here are links to order your copy of my new book, 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination (The New Press, 2022).
#titleix #37words
