National Women’s Law Center and Title IX
Two powerhouses for women’s rights celebrate their golden anniversaries in 2022: The National Women’s Law Center and Title IX share a birthday year! You know I love history, but their influence today, in the here and now, gives me hope for the future.
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) is one of 35 organizations in the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education and took an active role in publishing this month’s 58-page report on Title IX at 50. It covers progress and setbacks in nine areas of potential discrimination in education: sexual harassment; discipline based on sex and race; LGBTQI+ students; pregnant and parenting students; athletics; gender- and race-conscious programs; sex-segregated education; Title IX coordinators, and education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Here’s your summer reading, folks. It’s inspiring and eye-opening.
The NWLC always has worked in collaboration with other women’s advocates, often in a leadership role. This year, it’s partnering with the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, and other youth and community leaders in a Title IX Anniversary Coalition. Their Demand IX campaign aims to collect 1 million signatures of people who demand that all students be protected under Title IX, so that Congress and other policymakers provide more robust enforcement. Click the link to Demand IX or scan the QR code above to sign the petition.
I’m honored that this week the NWLC invited me and civil rights attorney Pamela Price to celebrate Title IX’s 50th anniversary by speaking with NWLC President Fatima Goss Graves before 70 or so of the most impressive women lawyers and allies who fight the good fight for justice every day. (The top photo in this post from left to right features Goss Graves, Price, and me at the rooftop Capitol View venue. Photo credit: Antwon Cloird)
I was in seventh heaven meeting so many Title IX luminaries who appear in my book 37 Words. Some I had interviewed. Others I met for the first time. Kenyora Parham, director of End Rape on Campus, kicked off the program with words of inspiration. And all around us were dozens more young lawyers and activists. Goss Graves reminded us that together we are so much more powerful than we know, and that Title IX is a floor, not a ceiling.
Elsewhere
The Associated Press and the National Women’s History Museum teamed up on a poll that found widespread recognition of progress that’s been made during Title IX’s 50 years. Women reported less progress than did men. Shocking, I know. In a separate poll of Oregonians, only 38% were “somewhat familiar” with Title IX but respondents overwhelmingly supported the concept of equality for girls and women.
The Office for Civil Rights stood up for pregnant students and declared Salt Lake City College, Utah in violation of Title IX. Women basketball players are complaining of discrimination in athletics at Cosumnes River College, Sacramento, Calif., and have hired a lawyer. A court sentenced the fired president of Franklin College, Indiana, to six years in prison and six years of extended supervision for child enticement and possession of child pornography. An interesting report from the University of Kansas discusses the downsides of making campus journalists mandatory reporters of sexual harassment and assault, which essentially “weaponizes” Title IX.
Students at Randolph IB Middle School in Charlotte, N.C. walked out to protest what they described as unchecked sexual harassment at the school. It’s surprising that this needs to be said, but Title IX helps men athletes who get harassed and abused too, not just women. Victims of team doctor and serial sexual predator Larry Nasser are suing the FBI for initially ignoring their complaints. There’s a patchwork of varying state policies that affect schools’ ability to “pass the trash” and send sexual abusers elsewhere, a new Department of Education report says.
Men are replacing women in education leadership jobs at “alarming rates,” Ms. magazine reports.
On the up side
The State University of New York‘s 64 campuses will permit students to use names and pronouns that match their gender identities in all university communications.
Where you’ll find me
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.***
The Guardian mentioned 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. 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 book 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination (The New Press, 2022).
#titleix #37words
