Time for Congress to enforce Title IX in sports?
Fifty years of failure to stop sex discrimination in school athletics means that it’s time for Congress to help enforce Title IX in sports, an influential think tank proposed.
If schools with athletics programs want federal funding (which nearly all schools and colleges currently receive), they should be compelled to meet a new requirement, the Drake Group suggested. Their sports programs should be governed by an athletic conference or similar organization that mandates compliance with Title IX by its member schools before they can compete for post-season championships, says Andrew Zimbalist, president of the group’s board of directors. Only then could the school qualify for federal funds.
The proposal doesn’t stop there. The legislation should require the athletic conferences or other sports governance entities to assess their member schools’ compliance with Title IX at least once every five years, and any school or group that’s violating Title IX would have one year to follow the law or face a formal Title IX complaint. So, adhering to Title IX at one point in time isn’t enough. It’s not one-and-done.
The proposal is the Drake Group’s response to a scathing report by USA Today showing how much large colleges and universities today stiff women athletes of scholarships that they’re owed. Zimbalist and former Drake president Donna Lopiano are long-time Title IX stalwarts and know what they’re talking about. You’ll find both of them mentioned in my book 37 Words. Every school and athletics administrator in training should be required to read Zimbalist’s writings about Title IX compliance, in my opinion.
Is there an athletic conference right now that requires schools to comply with Title IX before they can compete? Not that I know of. (Hello, NCAA?) The people responsible for enforcing Title IX — the Office for Civil Rights — can’t handle the complaints they get even now. The OCR’s staff and budget shrank significantly in the last 50 years. That’s why we may need legislation. It’s an intriguing idea.
“This solution would save institutions from the expense of dealing with multimillion-dollar Title IX lawsuits and years of staff time involved in responding to Office of Civil Rights complaints while lowering government costs of enforcing Title IX,” Zimbalist said in the group’s newsletter.
“The current lack of Department of Education Office of Civil Rights resources does not permit even a low level of Title IX athletics enforcement for over 20,000 high schools and higher education institution athletic program. This solution provides the right incentives to comply, regularized assessment by third-party athletics experts, and is sensitive to the need for institutions to be able to immediately address unintentional inequities without fear of litigation. The solution also addresses the reluctance of parents and athletes to report their institutions because they fear loss of scholarships, starting positions, or other forms of retaliation on the part of their institutions.”
What do you think?
Elsewhere
Parents of three girls sued the State College (Penn.) Area School District for allegedly intentionally excluding the girls from a coed hockey team, and are demanding $100,000 in damages. A parent of a softball player sued the Burbank (Calif.) School District for persistent inequities between the baseball and softball teams’ resources.
Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality released a new report about how a four-year post-graduate degree can lead to economic advancement for some while also amplifying social inequities for women and people of color. A separate new study found that academic scientific research teams produce more significant findings when the team is a mix of men and women.
The Cedar Falls (Iowa) Community School District agreed to pay $195,000 to settle a Title IX lawsuit without admitting that its alleged failure to protect a fifth-grade boy from sexual assault, harassment, and a death threat. A former member of the men’s soccer team at North Carolina State University sued the school, saying that a former sports medicine director sexually abused him for years and athletics department officials with knowledge of the misconduct failed to stop it. A former Louisiana State University student filed a federal lawsuit against the state university system on behalf of herself and Jane Does 0-100 claiming that LSU officials on multiple campuses and local law enforcement failed to protect students from sexual misconduct. A lawsuit against San Diego State University alleging a gang rape by former football players got one of them bounced from a pro team, and a diary kept by the victim added details to the allegations.
On the up side
Eight Rutgers University women athletes signed name/image/likeness deals for $1,000 each, not to help advertise a commercial product but to promote the New Brunswick, N.J. area and Title IX. (They couldn’t make it nine athletes??) And for the first time in Mississippi, an all-women crew officiated a school football game. Not only that, but this was the first Mississippi officiating crew consisting entirely of Black women.
Where you’ll find me
Out on the campaign trails, that’s where! Our democracy needs us right now to volunteer for canvassing, phone banking, poll working, and generally getting out the vote for the November 8 elections. Could you contact three friends this week to make sure they have plans to vote? I’ll be volunteering in New Hampshire. Other than that, look for me here:
Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Central — The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Women in Law hosts an online conversation with me as part of their “Ex Libris” authors series.
Friday, October 28, 2022, 9 a.m. Central — I’ll be an in-person panelist at Northwestern University’s three-day conference, “Title IX at 50: Past. Present. Future?”
November 12, 2022 — I’m looking forward to two appearances at the National Women’s Studies Association conference in Minneapolis. Join me first at a 9:30 a.m. panel on Women’s Politics: Finding a Way Out of No Way,” and then at a Feminist Authors Showcase at 1:15 p.m. Central time.
February 2023 — I’ll speak at Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics in Ames, Iowa. Stay tuned for details.
*** 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.***
The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5, which introduces Title IX’s application by the movement against sexual violence. I published an article in the Washington Post’s Made by History section, this one on “The true mother of Title IX. And why it matters now more than ever.” The Christian Science Monitor included 37 Words in two articles — a cover storyon “Title IX at 50” and a sidebar examining the racial gap among women athletes in colleges. The Smithsonian Magazine quoted me and my book in its article about Title IX. The Guardianmentioned 37 Words prominently in its story on the history of Title IX. 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.
You can watch a panel about Title IX with me, basketball great Allison Hightower, and Prof. Sara Fields hosted by Tel Aviv University on July 10, 2022 at a conference on women and sport. The Post News Group highlighted 37 Words and one of the three main people the book profiles — civil rights attorney Pamela Price. Women’s Running quoted my book in “A look at LGBTQ Athletes’ Fight for Protections Under Title IX.” 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.
Here are links to order your copy of my book 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination (The New Press, 2022).
#TitleIX #37Words #TitleIX50th
