Arguably one of the most important and influential acts within the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as one of the most important and influential acts in United States legislative history, is the act known as Title IX. In its official text, Title IX declares, “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.” This includes everything from participation and discrimination in athletic programs to addressing sexual assault cases. At the time of its passage, which was at the height of the second-wave feminist movement, supporters were confident this act would eliminate all forms of discrimination that could be given on the basis of sex in high schools and colleges for all future generations.
As recent incidents have proven, however, this is not the case. Although Title IX violations aren’t brought up in the news media as often as they should be, this does not mean they are not important, especially during a time in our country where many other equal rights acts, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, are being eliminated. It is time for concerned Americans to rejuvenate the fight to protect and strengthen Title IX policies for the sake of preserving equality in our society.
In the past three years, two of the largest and most outrageous Title IX violations in regards to sports equality have taken place. The first took place in March 2014, in the small town of Beaverton, Oregon. Two softball mothers noted the obvious discrepancies between the girls’ softball field and the boys’ baseball field at Westview High School in Beaverton. These discrepancies include, but are not limited to, only one electrical outlet for the entire girls’ field, a concession stand that does not wire to electricity (so they can only sell concessions during day games, which significantly decreases the amount of money the girls can raise for their team budget) and a scoreboard that does not work. The two mothers who cited the violation claimed that the school district had known about this issue since 2011, more than three years prior and didn’t actively do anything to fix the problem. So far, nothing has been done about the issue, and the Beaverton school district has racked up four other Title IX complaints from other high schools, all with similar results.
The other major Title IX violation relating to sports equality comes out of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut with the girls’ volleyball team in 2013. Initially, the issue arose in 2009 when the school announced that it planned to drop the women’s volleyball team, and players and coaches cited the Title IX violation. It wasn’t until further research was done into the Quinnipiac sports’ program it was discovered that the school was employing specific tactics which ensured that men’s athletic programs were given much more privilege and protection than women’s athletic programs, a very blatant violation of Title IX. Unlike the Westview story, the Quinnipiac women athletes were given justice. After a court case that lasted four years, the school provided an increased amount of opportunities for women athletes, which included more scholarships for women’s sports, more coaches for women’s teams and a $5 million upgrade of women’s athletic facilities. Although this story ends with justice for women athletes, it still should not distract from the fact that Title IX violations are still a large problem. This can especially be seen in terms of sexual assault.
One of the biggest issues on college campuses is sexual assault; nearly one out of four women college students and one out of 16 men college students have been sexually assaulted, nine out of every 10 college women who have been sexually assaulted personally know their offender, and fewer than five percent of completed or attempted sexual assaults have been reported to law enforcement. Unfortunately, the list of horrifying statistics goes on. One of the primary acts set out to deal with and prevent sexual assault is Title IX, and as made very clear from these statistics, the majority of higher education institutions do not follow the policies of Title IX regarding sexual assault. As of July 2015, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating more than 124 higher education institutions for how they deal with sexual assault cases in clear violation of Title IX. Our very own UCSC came in as part of the list, with 18 formal reported Title IX violations. This comes in contrast with the report from winter quarter 2014, when it was reported from the Student Health Outreach and Promotion (SHOP) that 54 individuals at UCSC sought help for sexual assault related cases. This and many other cases like it from colleges and universities across the country truly demonstrate how severely Title IX is being violated, and why it causes such a large issue.
All of these stories clearly show how Title IX’s policies are in desperate need for strengthening and how we should reinvigorate the fight to do so. During a time in our country’s history when equal rights and equal opportunity issues are very prevalent, it is important to recognize when our rights and opportunities are being compromised and what we can do to help preserve them.
