Chances are, you have probably heard someone mention "Title Nine" (IX) at some point during your career as a student. However, while hearing the term mentioned is good, what you may not know is that this piece of legislation from the 1970s impacts pretty much everyone in the United States who has ever attended any public school or went to a school that received federal funding.
What is "Title IX"?
The term "Title IX" is the most commonly used name for an expansion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's Title VII, as a part of the Education Amendments of 1972, which were enacted in June of that year. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in any school or any other educational program that receives federal government funding, hence its impact on all students across the country. This portion of the Education Amendments, referred to as Title IX, extend those protections into the education sector as well, meaning students could not be admitted or dismissed based on those same factors.
For ease of reference, please refer to the opening text of the Title IX amendment, which reads:
"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."
Though the amendment is much longer, illustrating various exceptions and clarifications of the federal law, these 37 words certainly comprise the most famous portion of the legislation. In effect, college life as we know it today, everything from co-educational dormitories to men's and women's sports to cracking down on sexual violence and harassment have been impacted, directly or indirectly, by the Title IX amendment. Under Title IX, sporting activities, be they team-based or individual, are considered educational activities on college campuses. As part of the law, every higher education campus is required by law to have a Title IX coordinator and investigative committee to oversee compliance with the law.
More specifically regarding sports, as the Women's Sports Foundation illustrates, there are three portions of Title IX legislation that directly impact the implementation of college sports. They are the protections of participation, scholarships, and related program components. Program components can include everything from game schedules to equipment to locker room access.
The History of Title IX
The main text of the Title IX amendment comes from Indiana's Democratic Senator, Birch Bayh, who wrote the first 37 words of the legislation. The amendment was first introduced to the Senate in the Higher Education Act to ban discrimination on the basis of sex on August 6, 1971 and again on February 28, 1972, when it passed the Senate. Over the last 50 years, the legislation has had an incredible impact on the education world, and as such has faced some pushback over the years. Oregon Representative Edith Green, then chairwoman of the Education Subcommittee, held numerous hearings on sex-based discrimination, which led her to introduce a mirror bill in the House of Representatives on May 11, 1972. The full Congress, composed of both the Senate and the House, passed the Title IX legislation on June 8, 1972. After its passing, Hawaii Representative Patsy Mink led from the House various efforts to uphold the legislation against attempts to weaken or overturn it. Eventually, Title IX was renamed to "Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act," following Mink's 2002 death.
The Department of Education's Civil Rights Office spearheads investigations into and the enforcement of Title IX. The United States Attorney General does have some limited oversight of the legislation, as it can press or defend against charges based on the law.
As mentioned previously, Title IX is an expansion of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which outlawed discrimination based on race, sex and other factors, it only impacted the employment sector. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also included provisions for desegregation, including in schools, but it did not protect it as they are now. In other words, employers could not hire or fire someone based on a factor beyond their control, like ethnic origin, race, or gender. To reiterate, Title IX takes those protections into the education realm as well.
In closing, Title IX is undoubtedly one of the most important pieces of legislation the federal government has passed in the last hundred years, or perhaps longer. While various other pieces of legislation allow for protections and rights for various groups (the 19th Amendment of the Constitution affording women's suffrage, the Reconstruction Amendments affording African American suffrage and the Civil Rights Act which enhanced it, and many other examples), Title IX, aimed primarily at women, impacts every citizen of the United States, regardless of gender or race.
