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Women Denied College Admission
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not appear to include the prohibition of gender discrimination within the education system, and so, the fight for women's right to a higher education continued. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson's daughter, Luci, became a victim of gender discrimination after being denied readmission into Georgetown University's nursing school for the sole reason of being a married woman (Mitchell & Ennis, 2007). -
Equal Employment Opportunity for Women
In addition to Executive Order 11246, President Lyndon B. Johnson established Executive Order 11375 to include "sex to the groups covered by the governments equal employment opportunity policy for federal employees" (Schenken, 1999, p.251). -
Bernice Sandler Files Complaint Against University
As a part-time instructor at the University of Maryland, Bernice Sandler was having difficulty securing a job as a full-time faculty member. After being told she came on "too strong for a woman" by a colleague, the Woman's Equity Action League, an organization Sandler was a member of, filed legal complaints against 260 universities using Executive Order 11375 (Schenken, 1999, p. 222). -
First Draft of Title IX
Sander's class action suit grabbed the attention of many policymakers, including that of two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Patsy Mink of Hawaii and Edith Green of Oregon. Mink, a woman denied admission to 20 medical schools (Winslow, 2010), and Green joined efforts to co-author the first draft of Title IX. The goal of Title IX was for students to have the opportunity to obtain a higher education despite their gender. -
The Introduction of Title IX
Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana introduced Title IX to the Senate. Like Mink, Senator Bayh knew a woman who was denied an opportunity to apply for University of Virgina's law school--his wife (Mitchell & Ennis, 2007). He presented the discrimination women experienced throughout the educational system--ranging from scholarships, admissions, employment, and salaries (MItchell & Ennis, 2007). -
Title IX Signed
The Education Amendments of 1972 was passed into law by President Richard Nixon, stating that: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." -
Tower Amendment
The concern that Title IX would demand adjustments to the enrollment of women in collegiate sports led Texas Senator John Tower to oppose the bill through the Tower Amendment. According to Carleton (2002), Senator Tower requested that revenue-producting sports be exempt from Title IX requirements. The Tower Amendment was unsuccessful in passing, and so were the future opposing amendments, marking the disapproval of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. -
Javits Amendment
The responsibility of Title IX's regulations was under the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Before officially publishing the regulations, the department welcomed recommendations from the public. Jacob R. Javits, Senator of New York, proposed that Title IX include a statement exempting the requirement of a sport receiving the same amount of funds as another sport that does not require the same amount of maintenance (Mitchell & Ennis, 2007, p. 65). -
Title IX Regulations Enforced
President Gerald R. Ford approves Title IX's regulations which were finalized and enforced in July. Though the goal of Title IX was to eliminate gender discrimination by an institution receiving federal funds, the reform was now focused on the effect it had on collegiate sports. With the new regulations, funding for women's sports was to be of equal to that of men's sports. -
Grove City College v. Bell
Due to the college's refusal to comply with Title IX, the Department of Education revoked the financial assistance received by students of Grove City College. The Supreme Court "restricted the application of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 at a private collge that accepted no direct federal funding on its own but had large number of studnts who received federally funded grants" (Russo, 2009). -
Civils Right Restoration Act
The Civil Rights Restoration Act re-defined the interpretation of Title IX by establishing that any department or program receiving direct or indirect federal funds would require the compliance of the whole institution. Initially, the bill was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan until March of 1988 when the Senate and the House overrode the president's veto and passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act (Schultz, 1999). -
Women's College Enrollment Increased
By 1994, the impact of Title IX had shown an increase in female college enrollment. According to Schenken (1999), 63 percent of female high school graduates were enrolled in college, as opposed to the 43 percent enrolled in 1973. -
More Female Athletes
By 1995, the participation of female atheletes in collegiate sports had increased as well. Schenken (1999) reported that the percentage of college female athletes had increased to 37 percent in contrast to the 15 percent in 1972. -
Male College Sports Cut
By 2002, Title IX's guidelines had enforced the termination of male sports programs throughout various universities. Up to 170 wrestling programs and 45 track and field teams were banished from universities such as Bowling Green University of Ohio (Pennington, 2002). The goal was to equalize the amount of male sports to female sports. This resulted in coaches perceiving Title IX to be a de facto quota system (Pennington, 2002). -
Title IX Renamed
To honor Patsy Mink's influence on TItle IX, President George W. Bush renamed the bill to the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. -
Title IX Exemptions
Though Title IX impacted equality in higher education greatly, it still has the ability to provide exemptions when requested, and if within guidelines. In 2014, the Department of Education ruled in favor of George Fox University, allowing the Christian college to deny a transgender student housing equity (Jaschik, 2014). Two more Chrstian colleges followed after that. Arguably, these schools are allowed to discriminate legally against any student opposing a college's religous beliefs. -
Title IX Filings of Sexual Assault Victims
Many victims are using Title IX to report encounters of sexual assault while on campus grounds and the errors made during the colleges' investigations. Currently, "174 postsecondary institutions have a total of 220 pending Title IX alleged sexual violence cases under investigation" (Rozen, 2016). -
The Future of Title IX
Title IX's initial goal was to diminish student discrimination based on gender in regards to college admissions yet the reform caused the disapproval of college coaches whom recognized that sports programs would need to accomodate female participation. As a result of Title IX, "the number of female athletes at NCAA schools has increased from less than 30,000 to over 193,000 since 1972" (Dusenbury and Lee, 2012). -
The Future of Title IX, Cont.
Though many changes have been made to balance the amount of male and female sports programs, female athletes continue to fight for sports equality. The implementation of Title IX has seen little effects in protecting students whom are victims of sexual assault or of the LGBT community. Though it's been over 40 years that Title IX has passed, the room for improvement still lies.
