James Curtis

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Title IX

• James Curtis
• Megan Rideout
• Melissa Carroll

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History of Title IX

• Title IX was the first federal law to prohibit
  sexual discrimination against students and
  employees of educational institutions.
• Title IX is of the Education Amendments of 1972
  to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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The Title IX Law States That

• No person in the United States shall, on the
  basis of sex, be excluded from participation in,
  or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
  discrimination under any educational program or
  activity receiving federal assistance.

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Schools show compliance for Title IX by
demonstrating one of three criteria

• The school can show that it provides athletic
  opportunities to men and women significantly
  proportionate to their overall enrollment.
• A history and continuing practice of expanding
  opportunities for the under-represented sex
• It can show that it has fully and effectively
  accommodated the interests and abilities of the
  members of the under-represented sex.

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Who is Affected by Title IX?

• Elementary schools
• Secondary schools
• Colleges and Universities

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• Programs that receive federal funding
• Internships
• School-to-Work programs (ex. Co-op)
• Correctional facilities
• Health Care facilities
• Unions
• Businesses

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• As a result of Title IX, female participation in
  sport has increased by over 400 at the college
  level and over 800 at the high school level
  since 1972.

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Controversial History

• One way that schools have tended to comply with
  Title IXs regulations has been to eliminate
  teams or to cap their size.
• For example, if a school has a history of having
  a mens rugby team, but no womens rugby team,
  instead of introducing a womens team the school
  can decide to eliminate the rugby program
  altogether

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The Problem

• March 17th, 2005 The Bush Administration
  together with The Department of Education
  endorsed the Additional Clarification on
  Intercollegiate Athletics Policy
• This new policy encouraged the use of an online
  survey method as the sole means of assessing the
  student populations interest in sport.

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In other words

• Females at these schools have to prove theyre
  interested in playing sports, which is something
  that males never had to do. The schools use the
  results of this new survey method to determine
  their investments in athletics. This is seen as a
  scapegoat for under-funding female athletic
  programs therefore they can get away with NOT
  complying to the long-established Title IX
  obligations of adding more participation
  opportunities for girls and women

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Why its a problem

• Methodological principles and research have shown
  that relying on a survey alone to illustrate
  womens interest in sport is not likely to yield
  fair results since
• Research shows that an individuals disposition
  and willingness to express personal interest in
  athletics is influenced by social norms, culture,
  gender, race, and ethnicity.

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• For example
• Boys and men are more likely to deem themselves
  athletes because its a traditionally masculine
  trait to have.
• Girls and women often have higher standards of
  what they believe an athlete to be. For example,
  Megan may go to the gym five times a week but
  still not consider herself an athlete, whereas
  James may just kick a soccer ball around in his
  backyard and call himself the next David Beckham.
  

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• Any failure for women to express interest likely
  reflects a lack of prior exposure, surveys may
  simply measure the impact of past discrimination
  rather than the interest that might exist had
  participation opportunities been truly equal

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The Survey

• The Survey is based on the assumption that it can
  be used to accurately predict athletic behavior.
• Although Behavioral scientists have long observed
  the discrepancy between attitude and behavior.
• For example, many people who profess a keen
  interest in quitting smoking or losing weight
  continue to smoke and overeat. Particularly with
  athletics, where womens opportunities have
  historically been limited, the opposite is also
  true individuals who fail to express interest in
  participating in sports will often embrace the
  chance to play if offered the opportunity.
• Many girls who would have shown no interest in
  sports, for example, become enthusiastic
  participants after joining a team because a
  friend did so, because they were recruited by an
  enthusiastic coach, or because they were taken to
  tryouts by a parent.
• http//survey.truman.edu/chooseSurvey.asp

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The Survey is likely to yield low response rates
since

• Access to and use of university and college
  e-mail services is varied and uneven
• Some students use it, others dont
• Many students prefer to use commercial email
  accounts, such as hotmail
• Some students may not own a computer or be able
  to pay for email access
• Some students may not check their emails for long
  periods of time
• Many ignore campus email as an attempt to avoid
  spam

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Furthermore

• The Departments survey guidelines treat the
  survey method as a census if all students are
  contacted and asked to go to a website and
  complete the questionnaire.
• If a student does not respond to the request, the
  Clarification states that schools may interpret
  the non-response as evidence of lack of interest
• In other words, that student is still counted
  as a respondent and defined as someone with no
  interest in athletics.
• By associating the non-responses to a lack of
  athletic interest, the Office for Civil Rights
  procedures do not meet the basic scientific
  criteria for establishing reliable and valid
  survey results and interpretations

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More Evidence of Flawed Methodology

• One cannot be sure of who has completed a survey
  when it is done online.
• Some students and faculty share campus IDs and
  passwords, which could further worsen the
  dilemma.
• Some people may misinterpret the meaning of the
  survey
• Students may think the survey targets varsity
  sports only not recreational or intramural
  activities.

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Course Pack References

• The readings Sports and Male Domination The
  Female Athlete As Contested Ideological Terrain
  by Messner, and Spectacle, Commerce, and Bodies
  Three Facets of Hypergender in the Sport Nexus
  by Burstyn convey the message that Title IX,
  since its inception in 1972, has greatly
  benefited female participation in sport, and also
  increased acceptance of female athleticism.

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Conclusions

• In order to fully meet the interests and
  abilities of female students, administrations
  need to take into account more factors than just
  a survey.
• We feel that if the students are asked to
  complete the Title IX surveys, they should be
  mandatory and done in person with student
  identification.

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However

• We truly believe that Title IX should have never
  been changed. It has proven to be one of the
  most successful Civil Rights laws in history.
• Re-evaluating it and revising it was a mistake.
• The administrations time would be better spent
  addressing other less successful Civil Rights
  issues.

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• http//www.titleix.info/content.jsp?content_KEY17
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