College Celebrates 30 Years of Title IX

Author: Nick Ferrer

In 1972 President Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments into law. As part of a series of laws aimed at extending civil rights, the legislation prohibited individuals from being subject to discrimination on the basis of sex under any educational program receiving federal aid. Although the law made no mention of any specific activities, it would soon come to be seen as the centerpiece to the development and progress of women's althetics.
Last Wednesday alumni, athletes, faculty and members of the administration gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this landmark legislation. With seven former student-athletes serving as panelists for the event, it was a night to travel back to the times before Title IX and a night to look ahead to the future.
At the time the bill went through its final steps, women's athletics were hardly a blip on the radar screen of national sports. Just 300,000 women played high school sports and even fewer played at the collegiate level. Coaches were predominantly male, with very few exceptions, and rare was the institution where teams were adequately funded or even provided with decent uniforms.
One of the first prominent female athletic figures at Middlebury was Coach Joan Greiner. Greiner, who coached field hockey, basketball, volleyball and a number of other women's sports during her 27 year tenure at Middlebury, arrived in 1960 when many sports were still considered "too rough and too unladlylike" for women to play. Indeed, the football team's budget was far greater than that of all women's sports combined. Many women's teams had to drive their own cars to play their games, and several teams could not even enjoy the luxury of a uniform. And, should women's teams have found themselves practicing in the field house on a rainy day, they would soon have to leave to make way for the football team.
That said, Middlebury was far ahead of other schools in providing ahletic opportunities for women in the pre-Title IX era. At least six women's programs were well established, and the College was able to use its reputation to attract top female athletes from around the country. Yet there was still a commonly accepted notion that women were less interested, if not less capable, of participating in sports. As late as the early 1970s, female students who wanted to ski at the Snow Bowl were required to first take lessons. The men, on the other hand, simply signed their names and took to the slopes.
As years passed, the College, under the tutelage of then Athletic Director Tom Lawson, made it a priority to enforce Title IX and provide gender equity in its athletics programs. Lawson successfully recruited new female coaches like Missy Foote and helped give the women's programs the prestigious image they hold today. Well ahead of its NESCAC competition, Middlebury's women's teams have produced nine national championships in the last five years alone. There are currently 16 women's teams and 14 men's teams.
All the panelists were thankful for the lessons they had learned from sports, explaining that athletics endowed them with tools ranging from communication to teamwork and a never-die attitude; many of them said that without Title IX they would never have become the women they are today — accomplished Wall Street executives, corporate CEOs, administrators, coaches and educators. But there are still obstacles to overcome.
One formidable obstacle is the commonly held view that Title IX impedes the development of men's programs. Recently, a wave of cutting sports teams — usually men's teams — has swept the country. Many have pointed to the legislation as a cause for the phenomenon, claiming that a necessity to maintain equal opportunities for men and women inherently leads to the cancellation of already established men's programs. Wednesday's panel was determined to challenge that notion. "The easy 'solution' for how to be in compliance with Title IX has been to cut men's programs in order to add women's [programs]," explained Foote. "The intent of the law was never to take away from one area, but to enhance opportunities for women."
Megan Harlan '88 echoed Foote's sentiments. "People used to tell me that Title IX gives a woman the right to complain. That's not the case." On the contrary, Harlan and others believe women should continue to push the law's enforcement further.
The next step in the progress of women's athletics may be an increase in the number of women coaches and athletic administrators. Despite Middlebury's 16 varsity women's teams, there are only six full-time female coaches —compared to 14 full-time male coaches. "The male coaches we have coaching women's teams are superb," said Foote. "But when hiring new staff it would be nice to have women coaching women's teams, and perhaps even coaching men's teams."
Whatever course Title IX does take, the one certainty is that it has come a long way from its inception. Since 1972 there has been a 403 percent increase in the number of female collegiate athletes, and players and coaches agree the gender gap is growing narrower. Thirty years ago women who played sports were called "tomboys," explained Assistant Director of Athletics Gail Smith. "Today there is a new word to call women who play sports: Athletes."