Talking about Title IX in Atlanta

November 11, 2022
Author events Book news Title IX

Georgia Institute of Technology President Angel Cabrera Izquierdo and I will be talking about Title IX in Atlanta in one of his “Conversations with Cabrera” on Tuesday, November 15 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

The event is free and open to the public. Come join us at Price Gilbert Memorial Library’s Scholars Event Theater, room 1280, 704 Cherry Street Northwest, Atlanta.

Seating is limited, so register here. The event also will be webcast via Zoom. Register to receive the link.

Elsewhere

Brown University agreed to pay $1,135,000 for the legal fees of plaintiffs in a 2020 lawsuit claiming that the university violated a hard-won 1998 legal agreement by recently cutting four women’s sports teams (Cohen v. Brown University). The university also will reinstate two of those teams and not reduce any other women’s teams for eat least four years, among other provisions.

Amy Cohen and the Brown University women’s gymnastics team.
(Smithsonian National Museum of American History photo)

This story is part of the landmark 1992 class-action lawsuit filed by women athletes. At the time, women were 48% of Brown’s students but were given only 37% of athletic opportunities, though many more were eager to play. Brown officials fought the case for six years at a cost of nearly $2 million but lost. They never admitted they were wrong, but after the Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal, Brown signed a 1998 settlement to maintain women’s share of athletic playing opportunities within 3.5% of their share of enrollment. The decision influenced colleges and universities across the country. The settlement in this current chapter of the suit sets an August 2024 end date for that 1998 agreement. After that, who knows what will happen. And, perhaps not surprisingly, Brown officials once again refused to admit they were wrong and complained about any suggestions to the contrary.

The U.S. Department for Civil Rights will investigate Springfield (Ore.) School District for possible Title IX violations in disparities between boys’ baseball and girls’ softball. I don’t understand why journalists at CTInsider blindly accepted the West Hartford (Conn.) School District’s spin describing inequities between their high school girls’ and boys’ sports programs as “small” disparities, but at least there’s a report spelling out the discriminations. The Iowa State University soccer coach accused of mistreating players received a two-year extension on his contract. A New York Times story detailed reports by female college athletes about toxic pressure by coaches to reduce their body fat.

The Gardner-Edgerton School District in Kansas passed new rules that limit transgender students’ use of bathrooms and locker rooms and participation on sports teams, despite students’ persistent objections to the rules. The ACLU called this discriminatory. Everyone is waiting impatiently for the U.S. Office for Civil Rights to proposed revised Title IX regulations dealing with athletics, which are in progress.

News from the Red Zone: Cornell University paused all fraternity social events after police received at least four reports of drugged drinks and one sexual assault at fraternity parties. In the past six weeks, seven undergraduates reported that they may have been drugged at parties on the University of Chicago campus, and one was sexually assaulted. The president of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt apologized for his remarks criticizing Title IX procedures related to sexual assault, and the academic senate passed a resolution criticizing him for the remarks. Former students told journalists that officials at Rider University, Lawrence Township, N.J. mishandled their complaints of sexual harassment and assault. A former postdoctoral researcher and fellow blogged about being “sexually harassed, marginalized, silenced, excluded, and gaslighted” while at the Harvard University Program on Science, Technology, and Society.

On the up side

The midterm elections are over, and the number of young people who voted was the second-highest in almost three decades.

Where you’ll find me

Friday, November 11, 7 p.m. CT — Come hear my conversation with University of Minnesota Professor Emerita Mary Jo Kane at SubText Books in St. Paul, Minn.

Saturday, November 12 — I’m looking forward to three 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 Author Showcase at 1:15 p.m. Central Time. At 3 p.m. I’ll be signing books in the Exhibit Hall at the Feminist Book Club booth.

Tuesday, November 15, 12:30 p.m. ET — Join me at Georgia Institute of Technology for a public conversation with Dr. Angel Cabrera about Title IX and equity in higher education. It’s free and open to the public, but register to attend here.

Friday, November 18, 12 noon ET — Get your signed copy of 37 Words straight from my pen when I stop to sign books at Gathering Volumes in Perrysburg, Ohio, near Toledo.

Friday, November 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET — Yo, Clevelanders! Meet me for a public conversation and book signing at Walls of Books, 7783 W. Ridgewood Dr., Parma, Ohio. Plus, we’ll be raffling off a copy of 37 Words to celebrate the end of my month-long book tour.

*** 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.***

Check out a video of my 25-minute talk at wonderful Left Bank Books in St. Louis. You can watch my six-minute interview on the Bridge Street morning show on WSYR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y. Or, watch the video of an October 19, 2022 online conversation about Title IX and 37 Words hosted by the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Women in Law; find it here. The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5, which introduces Title IX’s application in 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 story on “Title IX at 50” and a sidebar examining the racial gap among women athletes in colleges. 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. The Washington Monthly gave 37 Words a fine review — check it out. See other previous appearances and media coverage of 37 Words listed here.