Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (DEIA) Resources:
Title IX at 50

Forty years ago, when a young Ginny Gilder stood on the edge of Boston's Charles River and first saw a rowing shell in motion, it was love at first sight. Yearning to escape her family history, which included her mother's emotional unraveling and her father's singular focus on investment acumen as the ultimate trophy, Gilder discovered rowing at a pivotal moment in her life. Having grown up in an era when girls were only beginning to abandon the sidelines as observers and cheerleaders to become competitors and national champions, Gilder harbored no dreams of athletic stardom. Once at Yale, however, her operating assumptions changed nearly overnight when, as a freshman in 1975, she found her way to the university's rowing tanks in the gymnasium's cavernous basement. From her first strokes as a novice, Gilder found herself in a new world, training with Olympic rowers and participating in the famous Title IX naked protest, which helped define the movement for equality in college sports. Short, asthmatic, and stubborn, Gilder made the team against all odds and for the next ten years devoted herself to answering a seemingly simple question- how badly do you want to go fast? Course Correction recounts the physical and psychological barriers Gilder overcame as she transformed into an elite athlete who reached the highest echelon of her sport. Set against the backdrop of unprecedented cultural change, Gilder's story personalizes the impact of Title IX, illustrating the life-changing lessons learned in sports but felt far beyond the athletic arena. Heartfelt and candid, Gilder recounts lessons learned from her journey as it wends its way from her first glimpse of an oar to the Olympic podium in 1984, carries her through family tragedy, strengthens her to accept her true sexual identity, and ultimately frees her to live her life on her terms.

Fierce debate has long loomed over Title IX, the landmark legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in schools, whether in academics or athletics. Since its inception, Title IX has inspired both backlash and backlash-against-backlash commentary. Supporters contend that the legislation is a long overdue measure in securing equal opportunities for girls and women in America's school and university athletics. Opponents argue that Title IX is nothing more than a government-enforced quota system that is damaging men's sports programs. Caught in the middle are the schools that struggle to develop equitable sports programs for male and female athletes. From the hard fought passing of Title IX in 1972 to the most recent debates surrounding compliance, this encyclopedia explores the significant individuals, events, key concepts, controversies, and legal cases revolving around Title IX and its application in collegiate athletics. This encyclopedia, the first of its kind, offers a comprehensive guide to various aspects and wide ranging issues associated with Title IX and sports. With more than 150 in-depth entries, this inclusive and authoritative reference will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers interested in both the historic framework and contemporary implications of Title IX and academic athletics.

Equal Play; Title IX and Social Change collects the best, up-to-date scholarship, court cases, and other useful materials showing how the governmental processes have influenced the implementation of one of the country's most important social goals: equality in athletics.

Gender battles still rage on most college and university campuses today. For eight years, Women in Higher Education has reported women's strategic advances in the academy. Its goal is to enlighten, encourage, empower, and enrage women administrators, faculty, and students in higher education.This book is a compendium of lively, hard-hitting articles from the successful newsletter. Its thematic sections blend serious commentary, research results, and practical advice with wry humor. Readers will find a broad view of recent progress as well as effective strategies from women who have changed the academy. Topics include women's leadership and management styles and strategies, valuing the self, sex and sexuality, playing politics, and much more. Filled with wisdom drawn from real-world experience, Gender Equity or Bust! illuminates what women can do to transform the culture of higher education into one that honors their values and contributions.

In this first legal analysis of Title IX, Deborah L. Brake assesses the statute's successes and failures, using a feminist theory lens to understand, defend, and critique the law. While the statute has created tremendous gains for female athletes, not only raising the visibility and cultural acceptance of women in sports, but also creating social bonds for women, positive body images, and leadership roles, the disparities in funding between men's and women's sports have remained remarkably resilient. At the same time, female athletes continue to receive less prestige and support than their male counterparts, which in turn filters into the arena of professional sports. Brake provides a richer understanding and appreciation of what Title IX has accomplished, while taking a critical look at the places where the law has fallen short. A unique contribution to the literature on Title IX, Getting in the Game fully explores the theory, policy choices, and successes and limitations of this historic law.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Strong Inside comes the inspirational true story of the birth of women's Olympic basketball at the 1976 Summer Games and the ragtag team that put US women's basketball on the map. Perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown. A League of Their Own meets Miracle in the inspirational true story of the first US Women's Olympic Basketball team and their unlikely rise to the top. Twenty years before women's soccer became an Olympic sport and two decades before the formation of the WNBA, the '76 US women's basketball team laid the foundation for the incredible rise of women's sports in America at the youth, collegiate, Olympic, and professional levels. Though they were unknowns from small schools such as Delta State, the University of Tennessee at Martin and John F. Kennedy College of Wahoo, Nebraska, at the time of the '76 Olympics, the American team included a roster of players who would go on to become some of the most legendary figures in the history of basketball. From Pat Head, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers, Lusia Harris, coach Billie Moore, and beyond-these women took on the world and proved everyone wrong. Packed with black-and-white photos and thoroughly researched details about the beginnings of US women's basketball, Inaugural Ballers is the fascinating story of the women who paved the way for girls everywhere.

In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle offers a riveting close-up of the girls on a high school basketball team whose passion for the sport is rivaled only by their loyalty to one another. Reminiscent of John McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are and H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Madeleine Blais's book takes the reader through a singular season in the history of the Lady Hurricanes of Amherst, Massachusetts. Blais takes us from tryouts to practices during the regular season, up through the final championship game against the mighty Hillies from Haverhill. The result is an astoundingly moving narrative that captures the complexities of girls' experiences in high school, in sports, and in our society. It is a compelling, funny, and touching literary exploration of one group of girls' fight for success and, perhaps most of all, respect. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle is both a dramatization of the success of the women's movement and a testimony to all the changes that have yet to come.

In 1979, a group of women athletes at Michigan State University, their civil rights attorney, the institution's Title IX coordinator, and a close circle of college students used the law to confront a powerful institution-their own university. By the mid-1970s, opposition from the NCAA had made intercollegiate athletics the most controversial part of Title IX, the 1972 federal law prohibiting discrimination in all federally funded education programs and activities. At the same time, some of the most motivated, highly skilled women athletes in colleges and universities could no longer tolerate the long-standing differences between men's and women's separate but obviously unequal sports programs. In Invisible Seasons, Belanger recalls the remarkable story of how the MSU women athletes helped change the landscape of higher education athletics. They learned the hard way that even groundbreaking civil rights laws are not self-executing. This behind-the-scenes look at a university sports program challenges us all to think about what it really means to put equality into practice, especially in the money-driven world of college sports.

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral--viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time. Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways--there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life. Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing.

In Landmark, Get Set, Go Roderick gives a true and up-close account of his experiences as an embattled coach enduring a lengthy legal battle to give the Ensley High girls' basketball team the equal application of the law they deserve. This book depicts the highs and lows of the Title IX case born in the rich civil rights setting of Alabama. After years of losing at every level in the courts, Roderick, with the help of the National Women's Law Center and O'Melveny and Myers appealed to the U.S. Supreme court in 2003. In March 2005, he won a landmark decision and the case became exemplary and raised awareness about continued gender discrimination across the country.

Can girls play softball? Can girls be school crossing guards? Can girls play basketball or ice hockey or soccer? Can girls become lawyers or doctors or engineers? Of course they can... today. But just a few decades ago, opportunities for girls were far more limited, not because they weren't capable of playing or didn't want to become doctors or lawyers, but because they weren't allowed to. Then quietly, in 1972, something momentous happened: Congress passed a law called "Title IX," forever changing the lives of American girls. Hundreds of determined lawmakers, teachers, parents, and athletes carefully plotted to ensure that the law was passed, protected, and enforced. Time and time again, they were pushed back by Þerce opposition. But as a result of their perseverance, millions of American girls can now play sports. Young women make up half of the nation's medical and law students, and star on the best basketball, soccer, and softball teams in the world. This small law made a huge difference. From the Sibert Honor-winning author of Six Days in October comes this powerful tale of courage and persistence, the stories of the people who believed that girls could do anything -- and were willing to fight to prove it.

"Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team the Grizzlies with a rabid fan base. The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical. A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer's devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault. Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to the assault and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman's entire personal life often becomes fair game for the defense attorneys. This brutal reality goes a long way toward explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime in America. In addition to physical trauma, its victims often suffer devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame, emotional paralysis, and stigmatization. In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the experiences of several women in Missoula--the nights when they were raped, their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them."

Women in America have come a long way in the last hundred years, from lacking the right to vote to holding some of the highest profile positions in the country. But this change has not come without struggle. More Than Title IX highlights the impact of one of the most powerful instruments of change--education. The book takes readers behind the scenes of some of the most influential moments for gender equity in education and tells the dramatic stories of the women and men who made these changes possible. The narrative blends historical analysis with dynamic interview excerpts with people whose actions made a difference in both educational equity and in the country as a whole. By showing how hard-won changes in education have improved life for women and men in America over the past century, the authors remind readers not to take freedoms for granted.

A Place on the Team is the inside story of how Title IX revolutionized American sports. The federal law guaranteeing women's rights in education, Title IX opened gymnasiums and playing fields to millions of young women previously locked out. Journalist Welch Suggs chronicles both the law's successes and failures-the exciting opportunities for women as well as the commercial and recruiting pressures of modern-day athletics. Enlivened with tales from Suggs's reportage, the book clears up the muddle of interpretation and opinion surrounding Title IX. It provides not only a lucid description of how courts and colleges have read (and misread) the law, but also compelling portraits of the people who made women's sports a vibrant feature of American life. What's more, the book provides the first history of the law's evolution since its passage in 1972. Suggs details thirty years of struggles for equal rights on the playing field. Schools dragged their feet, offering token efforts for women and girls, until the courts made it clear that women had to be treated on par with men. Those decisions set the stage for some of the most celebrated moments in sports, such as the Women's World Cup in soccer and the Women's Final Four in NCAA basketball. Title IX is not without its critics. Wrestlers and other male athletes say colleges have cut their teams to comply with the law, and Suggs tells their stories as well. With the chronicles of Pat Summitt, Anson Dorrance, and others who shaped women's sports, A Place on the Team is a must-read not only for sports buffs but also for parents of every young woman who enters the arena of competitive sports.

Often pushed to the margins, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming survivors have been organizing in anti-violence work since the birth of the movement. Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement locates them at the center of the anti-violence movement and creates a space for their voices to be heard. Moving beyond dominant narratives and the traditional "violence against women" framework, the book is multi-gendered, multi-racial and multi-layered. This thirty-seven piece collection disrupts the mainstream conversations about sexual violence and connects them to disability justice, sex worker rights, healing justice, racial justice, gender self-determination, queer & trans liberation and prison industrial complex abolition through reflections, personal narrative, and strategies for resistance and healing. Where systems, institutions, families, communities and partners have failed them, this collection lifts them up, honors a multitude of lived experiences and shares the radical work that is being done outside mainstream anti-violence and the non-profit industrial complex.

Title IX delivers a complete look at one of sport's critical gender equity issues. It goes beyond intercollegiate athletics to address Title IX in the context of sport, physical activity, recreation, intramurals, and physical education. From its enactment in 1972, Title IX has been often oversimplified or misunderstood by both advocates and critics of the legislation. Knowledgeable in the legal issues of sport and experienced in the administration of sport and physical education programs, the authors of Title IXoffer a balanced, comprehensive view of this issue, lending important insights into Title IX's requirements and application both now and when it was enacted. Title IX, the law, prohibits any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex. Title IX, the text, helps to clarify the law in a three-part progression that is accurate and accessible. In Part I,you will see Title IX's structure and requirements applied in different settings including physical education, intramurals and recreation, and athletics. Part IIthen provides a historical account of the social, legislative, and judicial environments in which Title IX has grown to maturity over the past three decades. Finally, part III examines Title IX in the 21st century, its impact on sport related programs, and continuing debates. Title IXwill also help you gain a solid understanding of the law itself. You will examine the actual wording of the law and related interpretive materials. You'll review significant lawsuits as you explore how the legislation has been interpreted and judicially clarified over the years in changing social and political climates. You'll find further clarifying information in summaries and questions and answers at the end of each chapter. Six appendixes provide pertinent excerpts from Title IX regulations, policy interpretations, letters of clarification, and an annotated list of other print and online resources. Whether you're looking for clarification of Title IX or for information on applying it in your programs, you'll find the information you need in Title IX.

One civil rights-era law has reshaped American society-and contributed to the country's ongoing culture wars Few laws have had such far-reaching impact as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Intended to give girls and women greater access to sports programs and other courses of study in schools and colleges, the law has since been used by judges and agencies to expand a wide range of antidiscrimination policies-most recently the Obama administration's 2016 mandates on sexual harassment and transgender rights. In this comprehensive review of how Title IX has been implemented, Boston College political science professor R. Shep Melnick analyzes how interpretations of "equal educational opportunity" have changed over the years. In terms accessible to non-lawyers, Melnick examines how Title IX has become a central part of legal and political campaigns to correct gender stereotypes, not only in academic settings but in society at large. Title IX thus has become a major factor in America's culture wars-and almost certainly will remain so for years to come.

"Me too. It happened to me too." More than one in five women and 5 percent of men are sexually assaulted while at college. Some survivors are coming forward; others are not. In We Believe You, students from every kind of college and university--large and small, public and private, highly selective and less so--share experiences of trauma, healing, and everyday activism, representing a diversity of races, economic and family backgrounds, gender identities, immigration statuses, interests, capacities, and loves. Theirs is a bold, irrefutable sampling of voices and stories that should speak to all.

Written by and for trans and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Written on the Body offers support, guidance and hope for those who struggle to find safety at home, in the body, and other unwelcoming places. This collection of letters written to body parts weaves together narratives of gender, identity, and abuse. It is the coming together of those who have been fragmented and often met with disbelief. The book holds the concerns and truths that many trans people share while offering space for dialogue and reclamation. Written with intelligence and intimacy, this book is for those who have found power in re-shaping their bodies, families, and lives.