Revisiting AIAW during March Madness
With the March Madness basketball tournaments in full swing, I can’t resist revisiting a fine article in the Washington Post about the NCAA’s dead sibling, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). This “Made by History” article is full of important women’s history. The NCAA used to manage men’s intercollegiate sports and the AIAW oversaw women’s sports. I often wonder what athletics would look like today if the NCAA hadn’t muscled the AIAW out of existence and took over its territory.
While we’re at it, here’s an excerpt of my video interview with Margot Polivy, who was the legal counsel for AIAW throughout the 1970s to its end in the early 1980s.
Elsewhere
Riverside (Calif.) Community College basketball players say women still get less support and unfair treatment compared with the men. The University of Illinois fired a tenured professor with expertise in rape prevention following accusations that he sexually assaulted a graduate student and behaved inappropriately with multiple others. The dean of pharmacy at Auburn University who stepped down after being accused of sexually harassing a student was going to ease into a professorship, but now he has resigned that post too. California State University faculty called for an outside investigation of how the 23-campus system handles sexual assault complaints under Title IX.
One out of five Idaho school districts don’t meet some of the most basic requirements of Title IX, such as posting prominently on their website the name of the Title IX coordinator, or a non-discrimination policy, or links to training that the Title IX staff received, Idaho Education News reported in the first of a four-part series on Title IX issues. The second installment in the series describes the struggles of a transgender student at Jerome High School who was denied the right to use gender-appropriate bathrooms. In Chicago, some parents are demanding that the principal of Jones College Prep School resign because they say he ignored reports of sexual misconduct for years.
On the up side
A University of Texas at Austin assistant professor of computer and electrical engineering won $3 million in her suit that found the university denied her promotion because she’s a woman and she was pregnant. Two California State University, Fresno professors talked about how Title IX benefitted their educations and careers. For the first time, a transgender woman won an NCAA Division I title, in swimming. Morton (Ill.) High School is changing its athletics program after a complaint of unfair neglect of girls’ sports instigated an investigation by the Office for Civil Rights.
Where you’ll find me
April 1, 3:45-4:55 p.m. ET — The student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild at the University of Virginia hosts an all-day seminar, with me on a panel discussing the intersectional failings of Title IX.
April 2, 1:30-3:00 pm ET — I’ll be in Boston speaking on a panel at the Organization of American Historians annual conference. Check out a two-minute video preview of our panel.
April 12 — Book publication day! From 12 noon to 1 p.m. PT at San Francisco State University, the school’s chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists hosts a live gathering of students and a give-away of books by three authors (including moi) who will join via Zoom. I’ll be there virtually with Vanessa Hua and Lucy Jane Bledsoe. Later, join me live at 7 p.m. ET for a 37 Words book launch event at Norwich Bookstore in Vermont. I’ll be in conversation with my guest Kate Rohdenburg of WISE, the only advocacy organization in the Upper Valley supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Twenty percent of proceeds from sales of my book at the event will be donated to WISE!
April 13, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET — You’re invited to a lively Zoom discussion between me and Kenyora Parham, executive director of End Rape on Campus, as we talk about 37 Words during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I’ll post links when available.
April 21, 7 p.m. ET — A virtual get-together with the Washington, D.C. chapter of NOW. RSVP here.
May 26, 6:30 p.m. PT — A virtual get-together with the Riverside, Calif. chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
June 9, 7 p.m. PT — Join me and Lucy Jane Bledsoe, author of the new Young Adult novel No Stopping Us Now, at an event hosted by Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco. We’re not sure yet if this will be live or virtual. Stay tuned!
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.
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. Part of the Max Conference on Women’s History, it will be on their website throughout March and then remain 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 Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5. Check it out!
Here’s where you’ll find links to preorder 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination. Preorders are so helpful! Thanks for your support.
