Fifty years ago on June 23, President Richard Nixon signed the Education Amendments Act of 1972. He saw the legislation as a failed effort to end busing. He seemed to underestimate how large the impact of a single sentence-the injection of 37 words-would have on America.
“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.”
In 1972, Title IX finally made a college education, a career and a future in sports seem possible for women everywhere in the U.S.
However, when the words “Title IX” are spoken today, the minds of those in Baton Rouge cannot help but think about the recent years of scandal at LSU. The law additionally cites that institutions must “protect students and staff against sex/gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
Sarah Becker, a gender studies professor, recently commented on the importance of strong Title IX offices.
“A robust Title IX team that has cultivated the trust of students, employees, and all campus members is one of the more important steps an educational institution can take,” Becker said. “[If they] handle individual cases fairly and engage in proactive and preventive efforts to uphold the principles embedded in Title IX, that can go a long way as well.”
Carrying out the regulations of Title IX is the responsibility of each institution. Many believe LSU has mishandled its cases for several years now. In response to a report made by USA Today, the university hired law firm Husch Blackwell to review LSU’s Title IX policies and procedures.
The law firm produced a 150-page report, saying the school “failed to report or even investigate allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic violence on campus.”
The report resulted in the suspensions of athletic directors Verge Ausberry and Miriam Segar. It noted several allegations against football players as well. Former football coach Ed Orgeron was accused of ignoring the rape allegations surrounding former running back Derrius Guice.
The coach, who was fired last year based on coaching performance, was dropped as a defendant from a high profile sex discrimination case that accused several LSU employees of ignoring Title IX violations and sexual assault complaints.
Les Miles appears in the report as well. He was accused of harassing female student workers and demanding that they hire “blondes with big boobs.” After the allegations came to light, Miles resigned as football coach in Kansas, although he denied any wrongdoing.
“Title IX remains the only law that grants women any kind of equality in America,” said Billie Jean King an advocate for the rights of women (particularly in sports) in the 1960s and 70s, in a statement posted to her website.
Title IX was a complete evolution for women in sports: it implemented several sports programs from elementary school to high school while giving hope to girls who wanted to pursue sports in college one day as well. In 1975, Title IX included provisions of direction for gender equity in athletics.
With the 50th anniversary this week, it’s easy to see that students’ protection from sexual assault and harassment have fallen short of the progression of women in athletics.
In 1972, however, even those opportunities seemed purely fictional.
LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was 10 years old at the time. She can recall joining the Dixie Youth Baseball team and often having to sit out on certain games because the other team thought she didn’t belong there as a girl.
“We’ve come a long way in fifty years,” Mulkey told the Advocate. “[But] there is still a lot of work left to do. As far as getting to a finish line and being able to say ‘This is it? We’re done’? No, I don’t see that yet.”
Some female athletes weren’t quite as lucky, though. Gymnastics coach of the Tigers for 43 years, DD Breaux competed on the floor long before collegiate gymnastics emerged after Title IX. After her time at Southeastern Louisiana University, where she was considered one of the Top 15 gymnasts in the country in ‘72, she came to LSU at the age of 25 to begin building the gymnastics team of today.
“[Title IX] did not make things great all of a sudden. Universities were still trying to figure out how to dodge bullets (with compliance),” Breaux said to the Advocate. “I transferred to LSU as a student when it was decided that tennis, basketball, volleyball and swimming would be varsity sports and begin to get scholarships.”
According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, more than 3.27 million are participating in high school sports in 2022. Back in 1972, just 1 in 27 girls participated in sports; today, about two in five girls do.
Despite where the athletic world is today, the opportunities that followed Title IX weren’t easy to get: they were fought for. The NCAA originally fought against the legislation in the ‘70s, arguing that women’s programs cause a monetary cut to male athletics in institutions.
It took the contributions of Louisiana-bred figures such as Audrey Patterson Tyler and Clifford Ann Creed to give women a fighting chance at equality in sports. Their monumental wins finally told the world that women can do it too.
Tyler, a New Orleans native, was the first Black woman in history to win an Olympic medal. She won bronze in the 200-meter dash at the 1948 games in London. Creed is a retired professional golfer from Alexandria. After joining the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour in 1963, she went on to win 11 titles and finished on the top 10 money list six straight times.
The law has had a significant impact on the working world for women as well. In its first year of passage, women only made up 12% of the first years enrolled in law school. In 2022, women comprise the majority of current law school students.
However, the gender gap in other areas like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is baffling. According to American College Testing reports surveying from 1995 to 2015, the gender gap between math and science scores have continuously decreased despite 2006 regulations which allow sex-segregated programs.
Despite testing performance in secondary school, the gender gap in the workplace is significantly higher. Statistics show that women possess the same academic skills as men but are not getting the same career opportunities.
According to the Department of Education, women are still extremely underrepresented in universities’ faculties. Finding a single woman in a leadership role is an even rarer instance. In 2020, only 19 percent of tenured engineering faculty were women.
Looking back on fifty years of Title IX, the civil rights law has jumped hurdle after hurdle in the sports world. But the gender gaps in professional areas and the spur of sexual allegations gone unanswered proves that Title IX is still a work in progress.
It’s important to note that the agency enforcing the regulations is crucial to the effectiveness of Title IX. Institutions are held responsible for handling sexual harassment complaints and properly investigating them. Recognized by the government, it is critical that each institution’s Title IX coordinator monitors the efforts of the university to comply with Title IX regulations.
There’s also the complications of more recent laws interjecting their way into Title IX’s provisions. For example, the U.S. Department of Education issued a controversial rule change for universities’ protocol of defining sexual harassment. It’s likely that the Title IX regulations will soon morph again in order to extend protective rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well.
Title IX succeeded in its purpose of granting people more equal opportunity regardless of their gender. But its job isn’t over.
“None of this was a given, so the transformative work that Title IX has done is in large part due to the people who both conceptualized it and really pushed for institutions to fulfill promises of that law,” said Allison Robinson, a co-curator of the Title IX exhibition in the New York Historical-Society Museum & Library.
The road that Title IX has taken throughout its history is a long and rocky one. And there’s no doubt that the next fifty years will require the same effort to progress to its ultimate goal of equity.