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<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100</id><updated>2024-04-23T21:39:16.181-04:00</updated><category term="athletics"/><category term="sexual assault"/><category term="high school"/><category term="harassment"/><category term="retaliation"/><category term="coaching"/><category term="employment"/><category term="football"/><category term="cutting teams"/><category term="basketball"/><category term="facilities"/><category term="softball"/><category term="transgender"/><category term="proportionality"/><category term="scholarship"/><category term="sexual orientation"/><category 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University"/><category term="Rowan University"/><category term="SUNY Binghamton"/><category term="SUNY Buffalo"/><category term="SUNY Potsdam"/><category term="Salem International University"/><category term="Salisbury University"/><category term="Seton Hall"/><category term="Shippensburg University"/><category term="Simpson University"/><category term="Spring Arbor University"/><category term="St. Norbert College"/><category term="St. Thomas University"/><category term="The New School"/><category term="Title IX anniversary"/><category term="UC Irvine"/><category term="UC Santa Barbara"/><category term="UMBC"/><category term="USDA"/><category term="University of Akron"/><category term="University of Alabama-Huntsville"/><category term="University of Alaska"/><category term="University of Arkansas"/><category term="University of Buffalo"/><category term="University of California Santa Barbara"/><category term="University of Charleston"/><category term="University of Chicago"/><category term="University of Dayton"/><category term="University of Denver"/><category term="University of Hawaii-Hilo"/><category term="University of Houston"/><category term="University of Maine"/><category term="University of Memphis"/><category term="University of Minnesota-Crookston"/><category term="University of Nebraska-Kearney"/><category term="University of Nebraska-Lincoln"/><category term="University of North Dakota"/><category term="University of Pittsburgh"/><category term="University of Portland"/><category term="University of Southern California"/><category term="University of Southern Mississippi"/><category term="University of Texas"/><category term="University of Vermont"/><category term="University of the South"/><category term="Utica College"/><category term="Valparaiso University"/><category term="Virginia Military Institute"/><category term="WNBA"/><category term="Washington DC"/><category term="Washington and Lee University"/><category term="Wayland Baptist University"/><category term="Wayne State"/><category term="Wesley College"/><category term="West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine"/><category term="Western Illinois University"/><category term="Western Washington University"/><category term="Whitman College"/><category term="Whittenburg University"/><category term="Wichita State University"/><category term="Winona"/><category term="Women's Law Project"/><category term="World Athletics"/><category term="Yeshiva University"/><category term="Youngstown State"/><category term="accounting practices"/><category term="badminton"/><category term="bath"/><category term="championships"/><category term="contraception"/><category term="debate"/><category term="dress codes"/><category term="events"/><category term="grading policy"/><category term="gym class"/><category term="health care"/><category term="interscholastic sports transgender athletes"/><category term="intersectionality"/><category term="mascots"/><category term="nnsylvania"/><category term="prisons"/><category term="professors"/><category term="race car driving"/><category term="rodeo"/><category term="running"/><category term="sailing"/><category term="sex work"/><category term="ski jumping"/><category term="undergraduate majors"/><category term="utah"/><category term="weight"/><category term="youth service organizations"/><title type='text'>Title IX Blog</title><subtitle type='html'>An interdisciplinary resource for news, legal developments, commentary, and scholarship about Title IX, the federal statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded schools.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default?start-index=26&max-results=25'/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2000</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-6693415657582944419</id><published>2024-04-16T21:47:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2024-04-16T21:47:28.048-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="transgender athletes"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="West Virginia"/><title type='text'>Hope and concern in West Virginia ruling</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;I attended a rally/vigil last week focused on LGBTQ+ visibility and one of the brilliant speakers spoke to the difficulty of maintaining/having hope among those who embody those identities, (and those who are allied with them). The idea that "surely things cannot get worse" she said, has been replaced with a resignation that when something worse happens, we know it will not be the last of the worst things or the worst of what is to come.&nbsp;</p><p>The tragic death of teenager <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238780699/nex-benedict-nonbinary-oklahoma-death-bullying" target="_blank">Nex Benedict,</a> whom we remembered at that vigil, will not be the last ever, the last this year, nor the last this spring. Queer children are in such a vulnerable position all over the country. And those with additional minoritized identities, like Nex who was Indigenous, are extremely vulnerable when they do not have the privileges that comes with whiteness, or middle-class standing, or normative ability (physical and/or neurological).&nbsp;</p><p>So I am wary to ascribe the word "hope" to the recent<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-virginia-transgender-sports-ban-overturned-federal-appeals-court-ruling/" target="_blank"> overturning, by a federal appeals court,&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;of West Virginia's law banning trans girls and women from school-sponsored sports. It is certainly good news amidst the bad (the longer list of states that continue to be allowed to engage in discrimination, the NAIA's recent banning of transwomen from intercollegiate sports at its member schools, and Ohio's impending ban).&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to the almost certain appeal of the ruling is the fact that the child at the center of the case is someone who could be characterized as a near-ideal plaintiff. She is a young teen who has been public about her identity since the age of 8. She has a birth certificate that states she is female. She is on puberty blockers and estrogen. Being an athlete seems to be a key part of her personhood and she has been playing on girls' teams since her social transition. She is feminine, blond, and white.&nbsp;</p><p>But my hope that this is a turning point, or at least a sign of better things to come, quickly dissipates when I admit to myself that if almost any single one of the factors above was different, this case could have had a different outcome. What if the plaintiff was not engaged in medical transition (remember some states have now banned that), what if she had only recently socially transitioned or never before played on a girls' team? What if she was a Black girl? (A look at the responses to former Connecticut high school track star Andraya Yearwood demonstrates how racism constructs beliefs about gender and femininity in ways that demonize and do violence to Black trans girls and women.)&nbsp;</p><p>To be clear: I am very happy the decision went in the plaintiff's favor and that she will be able to continue to participate on the girls' track team. I hope it makes space for those who might not be the "ideal" because of how they present or how they are choosing to embody their identities.&nbsp;</p><p>But, right now, that is about all the hope I can muster.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/6693415657582944419'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/6693415657582944419'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2024/04/hope-and-concern-in-west-virginia-ruling.html' title='Hope and concern in West Virginia ruling'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-538293760362684117</id><published>2023-04-21T14:26:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2023-04-21T14:26:01.271-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="transgender athletes"/><title type='text'>Not saying "I do" to Biden's proposal</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;With the spate of legislation aimed at denying trans people--including trans children--fundamental rights, it would seem like this month's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-us-department-educations-proposed-change-its-title-ix-regulations-students-eligibility-athletic-teams">announcement from the White House&nbsp; </a>about proposed regulations (under Title IX) to prevent schools from outright bans on trans youth participation in sports would be a good thing.&nbsp;</p><p>The headlines might have inspired some hope* especially in weeks like this one where the House has passed a<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/20/house-gop-bill-transgender-athletes-00093044#:~:text=House%20Republicans%20approved%20their%20measure,in%20states%20across%20the%20country."> bill that bans transwomen from sports competitions </a>by amending Title IX to state that sex can only be defined by sex assigned at birth (which, of course, will trigger a myriad of other bad things for cis and trans people and persons with Differences of Sexual Development).&nbsp;</p><p>While that bill will not pass the Senate, other bills are passing state legislatures; seemingly with ease. But after reading the actual proposal and fact sheet (linked above), there is not much reason for celebration, however.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>One, we have to remember these are proposed changes to how the law is interpreted. We now enter a comment period where people and entities can, well, comment on the proposed rules. This is, I suppose, part of the democratic process (though how much so is questionable given that former Sec of Ed Betsy DeVos also made changes that from all that I could see were largely unpopular and those got pushed through anyway).&nbsp;</p><p>But good golly, I would not want to be the one reading these! I imagine they will only be slightly more professional versions of internet crap from the likes of Save Women's Sports and the Alliance Defending Freedom. [Or maybe I am overestimating the professionalism of transphobic persons and entities. ]</p><p>Regardless, these changes are not going to be protective of trans people. The big takeaway is this: institutions to which Title IX applies will not be allowed to pass blanket policies that ban trans students from sports participation. Instead the Department of Education will "allow schools flexibility to develop team eligibility criteria that serve important educational objectives, such as ensuring farness in competition or preventing sports-related injury." I will come back to this and some of the other language.&nbsp;</p><p>I am going to start with a problem I feel has been almost entirely overlooked in this and most other conversations about policies regarding trans participation in sports^: they do nothing to address privacy. Because so much of these regulations depend on how this flexibility will be interpreted and implemented --standards of fairness and advantage being highly subjective in the sport world--privacy has arguably become less of a concern, less of a right that trans people--including children can have if they want to play sports. If these regulations get passed the early "cases" (children should not be cases by the way) will be brutal. Adults will engage in horrible behavior and say brutally damaging things about children. (Just look at how Lia Thomas and other adult trans athletes have been treated.)&nbsp;</p><p>I do not have faith that we who live in a white, western, heteropatriarchal society, of which binary sports are a result and an enforcer, will have the ability, the knowledge, the self-reflection, the ethical drive to determine what fair is.</p><p>This is not helped by the language in the Department of Education's fact sheet and proposed changes to the regulations.&nbsp;</p><p>Starting with the above about educational objectives as related to fairness of competition and sports-related injury...One, fairness in competition, despite what many people believe about the rules of sports, is highly subjective. We, as a sport-obsessed culture, do not actually discuss and define fairness much beyond complaining about how referees call games or when the coach plays their own child. There is no complexity to the fairness discourse. Related to these regulations and their flexibility, I do not see how anything other than the usual boys are stronger than girls biological fairness discourse will be used by those wishing to erase/punish/condemn transgender children and young adults.&nbsp;</p><p>The "safety" that that Biden administration has invoked reinforces the "fairness" but is also entirely hypocritical!!! If it was/should be an educational objective for sports to be safe for participants, there would be far fewer sports. This is not a gender issue. Men who play football are quite dangerous to one another's health. (Also states with equal opportunity laws require that women/girls be at least allowed to try out for football and we seem to have gotten over the whole safety thing here.) Women's gymnastics has a high rate of catastrophic injury. Safety does not seem to be anyone's educational objective when the sport is a money-maker.&nbsp;</p><p>Overall the language in these regulations is vague. There are a lot of "expects" when it comes to what may be perceived as guidelines such as that the Department "expects...elementary school students would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity." This makes it unclear what happens when a school goes against this expectation and how these expectations will be enforced.&nbsp;</p><p>Basically what they are saying is that they see there are differences based on age/grade. But there are SO MANY OTHER THINGS that make one student athlete different from one another within sex-assigned at birth categories: height, weight, previous access/exposure to sport including privatized sports, historic and current nutrition access, socioeconomic class, among others. No regulation has ever attempted to govern or control for these differences in single-sex sports.&nbsp;</p><p>Another problematic aspect of the proposed regulations: they are conveying the idea that at "lesser" competitive levels, trans participation is fine but that more competitive levels or teams seemingly have the "flexibility" to exclude. So any trans person who wants to be "competitive" will be out of luck. There is no clarity about how competitive a team or school has to prove they are in order to ban trans people.&nbsp;</p><p>There are more issues that are vague in regard to how these regulations will and will not work alongside existing stances by state interscholastic associations and the NCAA which has deferred (a kind way to phrase this) to sport governing bodies most of which do not have "educational objectives" at the core of their missions.&nbsp;</p><p>It is sadly ironic that toward the end of the fact sheet it is stated that "preventing students from participating on a sports team consistent with their gender identity can stigmatize and isolate them." These regulations do almost nothing to impede or resolve that isolation or stigmatization.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>* I had linked to the NYT's article about the proposed changes but in protest of that outlet's coverage of the "controversy" over the care and well-being of trans youth, I removed it. Thus far it is a minimal attempt to divest myself of the Times, but I am trying to pay better attention going forward to citation politics.&nbsp;</p><p>^ I am looking forward t<a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/aop/article-10.1123-ssj.2022-0198/article-10.1123-ssj.2022-0198.xml" target="_blank">o reading this ahead-of-print article from the <i>Sport Sociology Journal</i></a><i> </i>to see how this issue might be addressed.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/538293760362684117'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/538293760362684117'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2023/04/not-saying-i-do-to-bidens-proposal.html' title='Not saying "I do" to Biden's proposal'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-5890822080804613525</id><published>2022-12-01T11:01:00.007-05:00</published><updated>2022-12-01T11:01:38.070-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="basketball"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sexual assault"/><title type='text'>The story of the Las Vegas Invitational is not the story</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;I spent part of last Sunday afternoon watching women's college basketball. Iowa took on UConn in the final of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament. I did not know the game was part of a tournament when I sat down to watch, and thus was confused by the black uniforms the usually blue-clad UConn Huskies were sporting. It was then explained to me: Phil Knight tournament, final game, Portland, Oregon.&nbsp;</p><p>Iowa lost. Phil Knight came out to present the trophy to UConn at which point one of my viewing companions exclaimed "He's still alive?" If only the most egregious thing to happen in women's basketball last weekend was a still-alive person touting his legacy...&nbsp;</p><p>That "honor" belonged to the Las Vegas Invitational, which has been the <a href="https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35119277/vegas-women-hoops-tourney-setup-criticized" target="_blank">focus of considerable</a> media attention since Indiana coach Teri Moren and others spoke out about the conditions in The Mirage's ballrooms. It was not the ballroom setting per se, according to reports, but rather the lack of bleachers, on-site medical staff, towels, and good lighting. In short, the conditions were not as promised when the tournament director proposed it to DI teams in March 2022.&nbsp;</p><p>The attention has been on how bad this is for the women's game. A gender equity narrative has predominated the coverage. Yes. And...</p><p>I am a little surprised that there has not been more (self?) reflection on this one.&nbsp;</p><p>WE MUST GROW THE WOMEN'S GAME! is the shout heard 'round social media.&nbsp;</p><p>This is true.&nbsp;</p><p>But...and I don't intend for this to be a blame the victim take...perhaps women's basketball should examine its partnerships and the philosophical foundations of those with whom they work/collaborate. There is nothing about the Vegas strip that makes me believe there is some kind of commitment to gender equity. Vegas is Vegas; it operates in its own self-interest. The money was made before those teams even showed up.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>But who chose to hold this tournament in Vegas and lured nine top teams to the Nevada desert? A company called Destination Basketball; an organization that puts together basketball tournaments (though it has ceased to exist online in the wake of last weekend's debacle).&nbsp;</p><p>First, the NCAA, in theory, has a commitment to gender equity. As the championship tournament organizer, they rightly got called on to the carpet in 2021 when Sedona Prince's TikTok about the horrible conditions at the women's tournament went viral. Destination Basketball has no such mandate.&nbsp;</p><p>Second, (I have totally buried the lede here) this organization is headed by Bryce McKey, a former college coach at Maryland and Xavier. He "resigned" from Maryland after allegations that he sexually <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/courts/2015/09/08/xavier-coach-bryce-mckey-sex-abuse-charge/71872584/" target="_blank">assaulted two former Xavier player</a>s came to light. One of those cases was dismissed by a horrible judge who used almost every rape myth that exists to justify acquitting McKey. The other case was never brought to court. In addition to Destination Basketball, McKey coaches girls AAU basketball in Ohio.&nbsp;</p><p>THIS IS THE STORY. (Kudos to <a href="https://deadspin.com/organizer-of-disastrous-las-vegas-invitational-was-twic-1849838041" target="_blank">Deadspin </a>for being one of the only media outlets to dig deeper.) The lousy basketball tournament organizer is actually a sexual predator and is currently coaching girls sports.&nbsp;</p><p>This is who those teams chose to work with. This is who they trusted to grow the game. Someone knew. Someone had to know this guy's history. The world of women's college basketball is not that big. And sadly it too has decided to engage in "pass the predator."&nbsp;</p><p>Equity in women's sports is not just about equal coverage or equal pay. It is about safety--including from sexual predators. Mere weeks ago we learned about the rampant sexual abuse by coaches in elite women's soccer. The list of organizations that have covered up sexual abuse by coaches is too long. There is justified outrage when a new case comes to light.&nbsp;</p><p>When are people going to start taking responsibility? How many athletes are being sacrificed for "growth"? Is that growth about anything more than money?&nbsp;</p><p>I realize that the vision leaders of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_for_Intercollegiate_Athletics_for_Women" target="_blank">AIAW </a>(and its predecessor organizations) had for women's intercollegiate sports is probably impossible to achieve in the current structure of college sports. But the abandonment of any kind of moral compass is revolting and athlete-centric philosophy. Women's sports do not hold the moral high ground. This is clear when they choose to associate with people who clearly do not care about women athletes.&nbsp;</p><p>What happened to those athletes in Vegas was unfortunate. I would encourage them to ask their coaches and their athletic directors why they chose to trust (and monetarily compensate) Bryce McKey to put together an event that was supposed to showcase their talents.&nbsp;</p><p>And someone in Ohio AAU should be asking a lot more about McKey's past.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5890822080804613525'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5890822080804613525'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-story-of-las-vegas-invitational-is.html' title='The story of the Las Vegas Invitational is not the story'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-8094744528831539902</id><published>2022-08-14T20:22:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2022-08-14T20:22:39.210-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sex work"/><title type='text'>Winning and failing at the same time</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;A community college in Oregon<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/13/former-porn-performer-wins-suit-against-community-college?utm_source=Inside%20Higher%20Ed&amp;utm_campaign=648f00ea25-DNU_2021_COPY_02&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-648f00ea25-197798121&amp;mc_cid=648f00ea25&amp;mc_eid=0f8dd88db4&amp;fbclid=IwAR3ao2Uet8OI8CUUolotN9VMObtKUH5jfA2qpzHL9wzmDhZUc_EDOiSl0m8" target="_blank"> must pay a former student over a million dollars after a jury decided the school was in breach of contract.&nbsp;</a></p><p>The student who brought the lawsuit was a nursing major who had previously done sex work in the adult film industry. Some of her instructors found out and felt that her past profession meant she could not possibly be a good nurse. She experienced disparate treatment, including lowering of her grades after the fact.&nbsp;</p><p>She brought two claims: breach of contract because the school did not provide her the education she paid for and a Title IX discrimination claim. They dismissed the latter.&nbsp;</p><p>I found this fairly surprising. The stereotype of female sex workers clearly was a factor in how the instructions treated her. The idea that a woman cannot be a professional sex worker and a professional in a "reputable" profession like nursing is based on beliefs about women and sex. One instructor said to her: "It takes a classy woman to be a nurse, and unclassy women shouldn't be nurses."&nbsp;</p><p>I find the plaintiff's response to the situation one also indicates the presence of sex-based discrimination much more so than breach of contract: "there are no words to say how much gratitude I have for the jury and their decision, but I'll never get over how much it took just to get a little bit of accountability."&nbsp;</p><p>The school clearly did not meet its obligations <i>because </i>members of the institution were engaging in discrimination. They were gatekeeping based on ideas about proper womanhood as embodied by a female nurse. The plaintiff, after she disclosed her past work to a fellow student (who seems to have not kept a secret), found herself being penalized by instructors in ways her peers were not. Some instructors told her it was part of their academic freedom to lower her grade. She was dismissed from the nursing program in the summer of 2018 after one of her passing grades was changed to an F one month after semester's end.&nbsp;</p><p>Additionally, the plaintiff went to the Title IX office and they never registered or investigated her complaint.&nbsp;</p><p>I understand why there will not be a pressing of the issue regarding the dismissal of the Title IX complaint. The jury award was large, the student has moved on and is in law school now and hope to continue to advocate for sex workers and former sex workers.&nbsp;</p><p>Reading the rest of the article though about other sex workers in academia and their treatment demonstrates that this form of discrimination has been deemed acceptable, is rarely challenged, and is based on norms of propriety that are gender-based.&nbsp;</p><p>This is not going away. Sex work is easier to engage in because of the many forms that exist; more people are moving in and out of it; it can be lucrative; and college is expensive. Campuses--especially Title IX offices--need to be prepared for students who engage in sex work and how to protect them from backlash and other forms of violence and aggression.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8094744528831539902'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8094744528831539902'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/08/winning-and-failing-at-same-time.html' title='Winning and failing at the same time'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-690708042616315133</id><published>2022-08-03T21:11:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2022-08-03T21:36:01.151-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="professors"/><title type='text'>Pass the professor is a problem</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;I have written previously about the practice of passing from one school to another athletes who have been accused of or found responsible for sexual violence. That is bad, and I am sure still happens, but at least some schools and athletic conferences have taken notice and created policies about not accepting these athletes. Does this actually happen? I don't know. I hope someone starts collecting some data/investigating. &lt;-- virtual prodding of my sport soc colleagues&nbsp;</p><p>Passing bad coaches around is also a problem though even less is known about how often this happens.&nbsp; I have a forthcoming post about a&nbsp; predatory University of Toledo coach who was passed to another team where he continued to engage in abuse of his players. One issue with determining frequency of this action is that coaches are employees and so this becomes a personnel issue and subject to a high level of scrutiny. The same is true of professors.&nbsp;</p><p>Today's post is about how professors who commit Title IX violations move from institution to institution. It is inspired by a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxgyp/how-universities-pass-along-professors-accused-of-sexual-harassment-and-harm-students" target="_blank">VICE piece from fall 2021</a> which I only recently came across but also because the issue has arisen in my professional life, and I could not get a clear answer on how to prevent the practice.&nbsp;</p><p>It appears there is not one.&nbsp;</p><p>The issue of sexual assault and harassment of undergraduate and graduate students has a long history. There is literally a book from the 80s called <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p061189" target="_blank">The Lecherous Professor </a>(I found an old copy--first edition-- at a dusty used bookstore in Northampton, MA but have yet to dig into it. I am sure when I get to it I will be being deeply demoralized by how little has changed).&nbsp;</p><p>In <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/459/1/1392608/" target="_blank">1977, an undergraduate sued Yale University</a>&nbsp;arguing that a professor's sexual harassment of students was a form of sex discrimination and that the institution was responsible for both attempting to mitigate this harassment and having a mechanism in place for addressing it. (This case is discussed by the amazing <a href="https://www.umass.edu/history/member/elizabeth-sharrow" target="_blank">Dr. Libby Sharrow</a> in the <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/espn-37-words-title-ix-impact-on-womens-sports.html" target="_blank">ESPN 4-part series 37 Words</a> about the history of Title IX.)&nbsp;</p><p>Though the plaintiffs did not win the case on its legal merits (Yale did institute a system for reporting sexual harassment, though), it set off a discussion of whether sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination.&nbsp;</p><p>Today we recognize it as such and so when it occurs in an educational institution, Title IX applies. But as long as this history of professors harassing and assaulting students is and as devastating the results, there does not seem to be a clear way to prevent it despite the legal recognition as discrimination.&nbsp;</p><p>I dug around when a colleague was in the midst of a job search for a high-ranking position at a school well-regarded in their field.&nbsp; One of the other candidates was a professor known to have been investigated multiple times for Title IX violations. This person made it to the on-campus interview stage and was favored by some who had decision-making power. Again, this person's history with Title IX complaints is well-known. But it could not be officially considered or brought up because Title IX complaints are a personnel issue and, as most personnel issues, nothing could be revealed about them; not the circumstances nor the findings of the investigations.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>This was the case for biology professor, Daniel Howard, at Augustana University who had a sexual and romantic relationship with one of his students/advisees (there were rumors of additional relationships). An investigation began after an anonymous report. He subsequently convinced the student, by her own account, to transfer schools to evade investigators while he followed his wife to the University of New Hampshire where he also got a position in the biology department. Even after the student victim spoke with the TIX coordinator at Augustana after realizing what had really happened to her AND contacting the TIX office at UNH, she got nowhere. Augustana said the case had been resolved, but that they could not reveal the outcome. I found this strange given that she was the victim and victims learn of the outcomes. But perhaps they thought the whole thing was moot given that both she and Howard had already left Augustana.&nbsp;</p><p>Everything on the UNH end seems very sketchy (&lt;--not a legal term) including the statement to VICE that the person who took the calls from multiple people about Dr. Howard no longer is with the office. There was no information about what Howard's new school did or did not know or what they did once they did know. When the story gained media attention Howard's name disappeared from the biology department's website and it appears that both he and his wife have left UNH. My cursory googling did not reveal his current institution. The VICE article (again a year old) reported that the student who has remained in the field still sees him and his wife and academic meetings.&nbsp;</p><p>Having served on search committees, I know that HR does the background checks and they will rule out people and not reveal why. The candidate disappears from the queue (depending on what platform is being used). But Title IX complaints don't show up in background checks because they are not criminal offenses. Recommenders could possibly mention it in their letters but even if HR deemed it acceptable to consider that information (a big question) would a letter writer even do that?&nbsp;</p><p>There are so many rules around search committees (which I understand) and about personnel information (same). But there needs to be some kind of balance between information that can maintain the safety of an institutional community and privacy. Title IX processes are so uneven across schools, how would a future employer even assess a finding of responsibility or of no responsibility?&nbsp;</p><p>In short, there is a gap--a very large gap--in Title IX enforcement when employees with histories of violations cannot be identified and thus are passed around higher education. OCR/Department of Education needs to issue guidance on this.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/690708042616315133'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/690708042616315133'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/08/pass-professor-is-problem.html' title='Pass the professor is a problem'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-3166197892478662571</id><published>2022-07-26T21:13:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2022-07-27T16:01:13.722-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="interscholastic sports transgender athletes"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Pennsylvania"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="swimming"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="track and field"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="World Athletics"/><title type='text'>The local and the global: Anti-trans policies are all connected</title><content type='html'><p>The impetus for this post was a radio segment I heard on my local NPR station about a school district in Lancaster, PA. The school board of the <a href="https://www.phillyvoice.com/hempfield-school-district-lancaster-county-transgender-student-athletes-policy/" target="_blank">Hempfield School District created a policy requiring that students participate in interscholastic sports based on their sex assigned at birth</a>. As horrible as this legislation is in intent and effect, it is nothing new--sadly. It is interesting though that the school district took this action after P<a href="https://www.metroweekly.com/2022/07/pennsylvania-governor-vetoes-transgender-sports-ban/" target="_blank">ennsylvania's Democratic governor vetoed anti-trans legislation that had passed the PA house and senate</a>&nbsp;and specifically said, in doing so, "leave trans kids alone."</p><p>Nevertheless, Hempfield folks have chosen not to listen to Governor Wolf and passed the policy by a 6-2 margin, unmoved by tearful pleadings from at least one parent of a trans child. It continues to baffle and sadden me that people go into education/education policy and have zero empathy for the children who need it most.&nbsp;</p><p>That is point 1: utter lack of empathy and failing to uphold basic education philosophies. This leads to...</p><p>Point 2: the goal of interscholastic sports is education through participation. Sports are already fraught because...America and capitalism and patriarchy. To be fair sports were never not fraught. But can we at least try to make sports for little kids something worthwhile and not a place where severe mental and physical harm occurs?&nbsp;</p><p>Point 3: As noted in the article linked above, this policy likely violates Title IX (the new regulations protecting trans students are likely to be challenged in court so everything remains frighteningly unknown). But I was struck by those who opposed the policy relying heavily on the "we're going to be sued" argument. Do the right thing because it is the right thing--morally. Yes, laws are part of our system of ethics and considering the law is part of moral reasoning. But if we rely only on the law to guide our moral reasoning, we will not be serving the most vulnerable.&nbsp;</p><p>Outside of the above points, I continue to find the claims of "girls are losing opportunities" because of trans inclusion both wrong and ironic. Girls lack opportunities because school districts have already failed to comply with Title IX's mandate for equitable opportunities. Also--this is not college sports; if there are super strict roster numbers then we are back to point 2--failure to live up to the philosophy of interscholastic sports. Additionally--and this is the irony--the more money a district spends on fighting a legal battle to keep a few kids from participating in sports in a healthier way, the less money there will be to spend on those sports and other educational necessities. That's a pretty difficult cost-benefit decision to justify.&nbsp;</p><p>The same week all this is happening in PA, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jun/20/sebastian-coe-hints-athletics-may-bar-transgender-women-from-female-competition" target="_blank">World Athletics (formerly IAAF), the governing body of track and field, hinted that it would follow the lead of F</a>ina--the international governing body of swimming--and ban trans women who have gone through male puberty regardless of testosterone levels. This is not a Title IX issue and there seems little to be done about Fina's rule or any similar ones by other governing bodies. The Court of Arbitration of Sport, based on how they handled the Caster Semenya/DSD athletes case, does not seem to be a viable option for stopping these heinous policies.&nbsp;</p><p>So why the comparison? Once again we have the straw dog argument: protect women's sports/protect women. The paternalism from organizations that have ENABLED the abuse of women athletes is astounding. Trans women are not a threat. Predatory coaches are a threat. Abusive coaching is a threat. Self-harm from a toxic sports culture is a threat. Where is the perspective?</p><p>Also, a huge thumbs down to The Guardian, a publication I usually trust, for including this paragraph:&nbsp;</p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, &quot;Guardian Text Egyptian Web&quot;, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Under World&nbsp;</span><a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/athletics" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077b6; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, &quot;Guardian Text Egyptian Web&quot;, Georgia, serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Athletics</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, &quot;Guardian Text Egyptian Web&quot;, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">&nbsp;rules transgender women can compete in the female category provided they suppress their testosterone to below 5nmol/L for 12 months. That rule was also followed by Fina until Sunday, when it changed its regulations after scientific evidence showed trans women retain an advantage even after reducing testosterone.</span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, &quot;Guardian Text Egyptian Web&quot;, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">It is irresponsible to off-handedly mention "scientific evidence" and not talk about what that evidence is and how (un)reliable it is. If the entire argument anti-trans people are making is "scientific," there has to be a discussion of this evidence.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, &quot;Guardian Text Egyptian Web&quot;, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Conclusion: everyone needs to do better. I am currently at a loss over how or if this can happen.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/3166197892478662571'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/3166197892478662571'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-local-and-global-anti-trans.html' title='The local and the global: Anti-trans policies are all connected'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-8767592793884350357</id><published>2022-06-24T11:16:00.005-04:00</published><updated>2022-06-24T11:16:53.498-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Albany"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="dress codes"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="intersectionality"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="track and field"/><title type='text'>Happy Birthday, Title IX!</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;Title IX turned 50 this week. I had a more elaborate plan for a post/piece that I still may enact when I find the time. This post, however, is a version of a talk I gave to Title IX coordinators with the State University of New York (SUNY) system a couple of weeks ago. I chose to highlight a recent story out of New York in which Title IX was NOT invoked but could have been. I also--because it was requested--talked about strategies for addressing the needs of trans/gender queer students on our college campuses. I am going to save that part for a later time and incorporate some of the new, horrifying changes/movements we have seen.&nbsp;</p><p>I want to thank Dr. Jaime Schultz of Penn State for sending me some of the sources I cited in my presentation, which I heard about in<a href="https://www.psu.edu/news/health-and-human-development/story/fifty-years-title-ix-lecture-examine-successes-and-limitations/" target="_blank"> her talk in April</a> about the 50th anniversary of Title IX.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In May, members of the boys and girls track team at Albany High School werepracticing without their shirts on over the course of several high temperaturedays. According to the students involved, this was a norm. But it was also apparentlyin violation of the school dress code. On a Wednesday the athletics director sawathletes practicing without shirts and told members of the girls track teamthat they would not be allowed to do so going forward. The students report thatshe said it was because they have male coaches around and it is a distraction.The next day, both the girls and boys again practiced without shirts. Some ofthe female athletes say this was a form of protest. The athletics director askedthe boys to put their shirts back on—they did. But she removed some of thegirls from practice; they left the track without incident; they tried to take apicture of themselves in their sports bras on the track but were barred fromdoing so. They took the picture inside and immediately started a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/girls-track-team-wearing-sports-bra" target="_blank">change.org petition</a> which included the photo. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some of the same girls attempted to attend a lacrosse gamelater that day where they were stopped by the AD and three security guards whoprevented them from attending. An argument ensued and the girls were suspendedfrom practice and competition for disrespectful conduct to an administrator. Theteam competed on Friday with only two members and the suspension cost many ofthe girls an opportunity to qualify for post-season competition. On Saturday aletter was sent to the homes of all the girls—from the AD—who wrote that each girl:&nbsp;"poses a continuing danger to persons or property or an ongoingthreat of disruption to the academic and athletic process." On Monday allthe girls were called into a meeting from which parents were banned. There aredifferent versions of the story with some administrators saying the girls were suspendedfor their conduct at the lacrosse game and others saying they were suspendedfor wearing sport bras. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What do we learn from this story and how does it reflect onwhere we are at 50 years into Title IX’s existence?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Even though Title IX can be applied here, it wasnot. I have a Title IX Google alert and I did not see this story come throughmy email. This speaks to the cultural knowledge about Title IX.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">A<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">&nbsp;2022 study by The Shirley Povich Center forSports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at theUniversity of Maryland found that 71% children aged 12-17 did not know whatTitle IX is along with 58% of their parents. A 2017 survey led by Dr. EllenStaurowsky found that half of college athletes surveyed knew nothing about thelaw and the other half had "large gaps in foundational understandings of whatTitle IX requires and how it works.”&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">This is a trend. I heard as early as the lateaughts that college aged women athletes did not know that there was a lawthat guaranteed them equity in the context of school-sponsored sports. Youngpeople—college-aged people—do not know Title IX applies to athletics but alsoto things like dress codes. Why? There is so much attention on prevention ofand justice for sexual assault and harassment, which is necessary, andsometimes probably feels all-consuming because of the seemingly never-endingchanges in enforcement, regulations, best practices, etc.&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">BBut we have to remember that everythingis connected. The discourse of “what you wear is distracting or titillating soyou can’t wear it” is part of rape culture that in a college setting manifestsinto the rape myth that what she was wearing is a factor in why she was assaulted.A woman who sees she is not being treated the same as her male athlete peersgets the message that the school cares less about her experiences—maybe as asoftball players but also maybe as a victim of domestic violence—maybe at thehands of a male student athlete.&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There is something happening when athletics/sports attempts to address issues of sexual and domestic violence. At my institution, SUNY Cortland, we hold an annual event called Yards forYeardley to raise money for the foundation started in the name of University of Virginialacrosse player Yeardley Love who was murdered by her also lacrosse playingboyfriend after a known history of domestic abuse. Many of my students who areathletes—club and varsity—are “encouraged” to participate in this event as aform of community service/giving back. They do not know what it is. They do notknow Yeardley Love and the circumstances of her death or the foundation createdin her name.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">W</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">e need to consider how we might widen oureducational efforts to cover some of the gaps and to demonstrate theinterconnectedness of seemingly different inequities.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The second thing to take from the Albany story, and an issue that has been getting a good amount of attention on this 50th birthday celebration: racematters. There was no mention in any of the articles I read about the racialidentity of the members (that’s a media issue I won’t even attempt to addresshere) but some stories included the photo from the change.org petition. Thereare many non-white athletes in this photo.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We know that Title IX has disproportionatelybenefited white women in terms of athletic opportunities. It is ananti-discrimination law based on sex alone and does not address howdiscrimination is intersectional and affected by race, ethnicity, religion,socioeconomic class, etc.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">While not specifically a Title IX issue, the suspension as punishment should not be overlooked. Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">&nbsp;</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">that suspensions of non-white students areboth more frequent and have more negative impacts.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">In our respective positions as educators, coaches, community leaders, parents, we may not be able to fix thesediscrepancies and disparities that occur before students reach us (though weshould definitely lobby people who can!) but we can and should be aware of whattheir effects are on the students with whom we interact. If non-white,non-middle and upper girls have fewer athletics opportunities how does thataffect their overall health and well-being? What are they bringing into ouroffices and institutions? How do their past behavioral records, when present, affect theirunderstandings of themselves, speak to lost/taken opportunities, trigger ourown implicit biases?</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->My final point regarding the Albany Girls trackteam, which I have just hinted at, is that these are the students coming into institutions of higher education. They may not know about Title IXspecifically, but they know injustice; many are already activists or engaged insocial justice endeavors; they know language and terms that I only learned ingrad school. They have expectations that their institutions treat them fairly. We have to anticipate a moreengaged student population that will expect us to know about how race andgender and sexuality and class intersect to create and impede opportunities andexperiences. They give me hope and we have to do better by them.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8767592793884350357'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8767592793884350357'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/06/happy-birthday-title-ix.html' title='Happy Birthday, Title IX!'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-1130730216979678767</id><published>2022-06-20T17:08:00.007-04:00</published><updated>2022-06-20T17:12:53.698-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="NCAA"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="transgender athletes"/><title type='text'>NCAA Won't Discuss Trans Inclusion</title><content type='html'><p>[<a href="https://afterata.blogspot.com/2022/06/ncaa-inclusion-forum-talks-around-trans.html" target="_blank">Cross posted at After Atalanta.</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p>I virtually attended last week's <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2014/8/5/ncaa-inclusion-forum.aspx" target="_blank">NCAA annual Inclusion Forum</a> which was celebrating Title IX but also included issues of BIPOC inclusion and athlete mental health (among others).</p><p>There was a panel on Thursday afternoon headlined by former Harvard swimmer Schuyler Bailar about trans athletes.&nbsp;</p><p>When the conference was announced, I was curious about how the organization would approach--or even if they would--trans athletes given the recent seemingly abrupt change in their policy (January 2022--<i>curiously </i>amidst the growing visibility of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas). They moved from a not ideal but not totally horrible policy in which hormone levels (specifically testosterone) governed participation, to a<a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/1/27/transgender-participation-policy.aspx" target="_blank"> we-are-cowards-kowtowing-to-the-misnamed-fear-mongering-save-women's-sports folks policy </a>in which trans athletes are treated as cheaters constantly having to submit to surveillance. Additionally, the NCAA policy is basically a non-policy because they have decided to follow the "Olympic model" in which each college sport will follow the rules of its governing body.&nbsp;</p><p>They have washed their hands of responsibility to throw the anti-trans activists off their backs, and they have sacrificed trans athletes in the process as well as compromising their own philosophy about the goal of college sports and inclusion and participation. To be fair, the organization has never truly adhered to that philosophy. [I will save a more thorough interrogation of the policy for another post.]&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The description of the panel in the agenda (available in the first link above) was as follows:</p><p>Session 1 | Beyond the Headlines: Understanding the Trans &amp; Non Binary Student-Athlete ExperienceMedia headlines and state laws have contributed to increased discussionabout transgender and nonbinary athletes. Rarely are the perspectives ofthese athletes shared or included in these discussions. This session providesan opportunity to hear directly from a former trans student-athlete abouttheir experience in college sports and to discuss with administrators howcampuses can support all student-athletes around this subject.&nbsp;</p><p>Schuyler told his story, the panel (there were two others who work in college athletics) answered some pre-set questions posed by the moderator, and we in the audience were allowed to submit questions in the Q&amp;A window. Several of us asked questions about policy--the NCAA's and other organizations' policies. NONE of them were picked.&nbsp;</p><p>In the chat, as things were winding down and it was clear these questions would go unasked, I commented on this fact. Schuyler saw my comment, in which I mentioned that these policies are a form of violence (because he had talked about violent threats against him on social media and anti-trans violence in general). He responded that the panel was not about policy but about showing the humanity of trans people by sharing the story of a trans person.&nbsp;</p><p>Humanity is great; I wish the NCAA had more of it in fact. But framing this panel as one about humanity and then refusing to discuss policies that are the opposite of humane; that in fact are othering, is disingenuous. I am not directly blaming Schuyler Bailar. I am sure the directive was issued from on high. In fact, when I went to the panel description as it was presented on the meeting platform (different from the posted agenda), I found this addition: <i>Please note, this session is not intended to discuss or go into detail around the NCAA's transgender student-athlete participation policy</i>.</p><p>The humanity discourse was a cover. It allowed the NCAA to show a success story in Schuyler Bailar. It threw attention off of their own inhumane governance. It is a cover for the violence they are doing. It focused on one person, which has been a huge problem in ALL the discussions of trans athletes. They are focusing on individuals and not the larger philosophy(ies) and ethics of sport and human dignity. This approach has made lightning rods out of people such as Lia Thomas. It literally endangers lives by perpetuating the idea that trans people are not fully human; that they should be subjected to constant testing and monitoring and scrutiny. It was offensive that they approached the issue this way at a conference about inclusion.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/1130730216979678767'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/1130730216979678767'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/06/ncaa-wont-discuss-trans-inclusion.html' title='NCAA Won't Discuss Trans Inclusion'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-5027602973155214580</id><published>2022-03-26T13:40:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2022-03-26T13:43:42.669-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Baylor University"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="coaching"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sexual assault"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="University of Memphis"/><title type='text'>New rule: No passing around bad coaches</title><content type='html'><p>Art Briles, former Baylor head coach, dismissed as part of the house cleaning (that was largely a PR move) in the wake of the sexual assault scandal (see Baylor tag for more details if you are not familiar or this <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/33365146/the-line-art-briles-downfall-baylor-hire-grambling-state" target="_blank">ESPN timeline</a>) got a job! He was hired in February as the offensive coordinator for Grambling State University, an HBCU in Louisiana. Briles has been away from college coaching for six years now.*&nbsp;</p><p>And he will continue that streak because <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2022/02/28/art-briles-will-no-longer-be-offensive-coordinator-for-grambling-state" target="_blank">he stepped down from that position after significant backlash</a> in the wake of his hiring. He lasted three days; which is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/sports/art-briles-former-baylor-coach-lands-job-in-canadian-football-league.html" target="_blank">two and a half days longer than his stint </a>with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2017.&nbsp;</p><p>I find it heartening when people push back strongly enough to prevent those who should not be given "second chances" from getting jobs in which they can continue to do damage. I find it disheartening that 1) institutions still offer these jobs in the first place and 2) that these decisions also receive praise (see <a href="https://defector.com/heres-what-was-in-some-grambling-state-administrators-inboxes-after-they-tried-to-hire-art-briles/" target="_blank">this article </a>that details communication to and from Grambling folks after the announcement of the hiring).</p><p>Grambling State did not have to walk back the offer because Briles officially resigned. But apparently learning nothing from this incident, they turned right around and offered the job to John Simon, who had previously coached at University of Memphis. Simons left the Memphis staff weeks after being placed on<a href="https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/gsu/2022/03/04/grambling-coach-hue-jackson-promotes-john-simon-offensive-coordinator/9377545002/" target="_blank"> administrative leave in 2021 in the wake of a Title IX and sexual assault complain</a>t. Grambling head coach Hue Jackson had already brought on Simon has an assistant coach, but elevated him to offensive coordinator when Briles resigned.&nbsp;</p><p>It is not a done deal. however, because <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/swac/2022/03/07/grambling-state-offensive-coordinator-john-simon-art-briles-hue-jackson/9417909002/" target="_blank">Simon needs to be approved </a>by the University of Louisiana System board at their April meeting. A spokesperson for the UL board said it was not a rubber-stamping organization and that it would scrutinize the candidate. The UL system, however,<a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_dceb1fe4-a488-11eb-baf2-0b0effe23338.html" target="_blank"> is not a shining example of how to handle Title IX issues,</a> so I suspect that they will come out with something like "he denies all allegations against him and was never criminally charged, so he's in!"&nbsp;</p><p>This situation at Grambling demonstrates, to me, the need for some rules regulating the hiring process of collegiate coaches. The system, for all coaches--not just football, is so steeped in <b>all the inequities</b> that is is hard to know where to start.&nbsp;</p><p>My suggestion: don't hire coaches with histories of Title IX and interpersonal violence complaints. The SEC and other conferences and/or schools have this policy as it pertains to athletes,** so why not coaches? As we approach the 50th anniversary of Title IX's passage, I have been thinking more and more about how to improve on the law's application; what other ways can it be used to ensure equity. This seems like an easy one.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>* He has coached at the high school level though. This is a somewhat tangential, but quite fascinating, article about his<a href="https://deadspin.com/what-art-briles-brought-to-the-town-that-never-asked-fo-1838408237"> first season at Mount Vernon High School</a> in Texas.&nbsp;</p><p>** Rumor has it that the NCAA is looking to implement a policy where ALL intercollegiate athletes have to be vetted for violent crimes, including interpersonal violence and sexual assault. I hope to find out more about this and post about it soon.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5027602973155214580'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5027602973155214580'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/03/new-rule-no-passing-around-bad-coaches.html' title='New rule: No passing around bad coaches'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-18375535180854548</id><published>2022-03-03T13:20:00.097-05:00</published><updated>2022-03-11T11:35:18.307-05:00</updated><title type='text'>The day the rowers took action</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;Today marks the 46th anniversary of the Yale women's rowing team's protest of their deplorable conditions.&nbsp;</p><p>This event is, of course, partial inspiration for this blog--as evidenced by the heading picture.&nbsp;</p><p>This is not a particularly momentous anniversary (especially as we gear up for the 50th anniversary of Title IX this summer), but I did hear a<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1l9b?fbclid=IwAR2vk3xq5YmUm1bUmI5i3KD7i8_wEbj7DkHV1yI65NR2q7316lLqRKCf66c" target="_blank"> BBC piece</a> about it (done in 2015 but re-aired a couple of months ago) which I am using an excuse to post.&nbsp;</p><p>It is short (8 minutes) but informative for those who do not know the story. It features Chris Ernst and Ginny Gilder who were part of the protest. They talk about their actions; walking into Joni Barnett's office and taking off their shirts to reveal Title IX written on their chests and backs. But they also share things that went beyond that office and speak to a dismissive culture that resulted in more than the lack of a boat house (the impetus for the naked protest). Gilder discusses how the women's team was shunned and made fun of by men when they were using the weight room, for example.&nbsp;</p><p>While it is important to remember the significance of the event, we should also use it as an example--a model--for athlete activism. These women were smart and creative. They called the <i>New York Times</i> to get a reporter to cover the protest. They thought about potential actions ahead of time, including taking a bucket and sponge "shower" in Barnett's office, which I think would have been equally effective! They had a statement ready to read to Barnett and the press. Relatively speaking, it was a small action that caused a large effect (international press and new boathouse in less than a year!).&nbsp;</p><p>There have certainly been significant and important college athlete protests and actions before and&nbsp; since (<a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/11/05/missouri-protests-daily-cover" target="_blank">Mizzou's</a> 2015 football team protest/solidarity action against campus racism; the 1968 protest by 14 Wyoming football players against the institutional racism of BYU; and <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/hidden-history-of-strikes-protests-college-sports/" target="_blank">many others in intercollegiate</a> football.)&nbsp;</p><p>Students have power, but the system that is I<b>ntercollegiate Sports</b> has effectively suppressed it. Teaching and sharing information about past protests and actions can mitigate the suppression. It would also be great to see teams act in solidarity when one team takes a stand. This happened to a degree at the start of the pandemic when athletes in the PAC-12 came together to protest conditions. It could be happening more.&nbsp;</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/18375535180854548'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/18375535180854548'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-day-rowers-took-action.html' title='The day the rowers took action'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-5551381398351262468</id><published>2022-01-05T11:41:00.001-05:00</published><updated>2022-01-05T11:41:38.209-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="University of Iowa"/><title type='text'>Thanks, Dr. Grant</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;I found out last week that Dr. Christine Grant, former AD at University of Iowa and long time advocate for women's sports and women's sports leaders died at the end of December.&nbsp;</p><p>There have been many stories and tributes, which I have posted links to below, but I wanted to offer my own brief remembrance.&nbsp;</p><p>I never had Dr. Grant as a professor when I was at Iowa (she was retired by the time I arrived), but she invited me, when I was doing my PhD in Women's Studies, to be on the gender equity subcommittee of the NCAA accreditation team. This was back when the NCAA actually required DI schools to do a self-assessment and then sent a team to campuses to take a look for themselves.&nbsp;</p><p>The gender equity subcommittee basically did a Title IX review. This is where I learned the nitty gritty of Title IX compliance--especially in regard to quality of experience (per diems, travel and accommodations, support staff, etc.). Dr. Grant was an excellent instructor to everyone on that committee, including administrators from athletics. I learned how to really look at and question and assess what is happening in athletics departments using qualitative and quantitative data.&nbsp;</p><p>Just a few days before Dr. Grant's passing, the final version of my institution's Title IX self-assessment was sent to the President's office. I was on this committee as well, and I would not have been nearly as effective in my work if I had not had the experience with Dr. Grant at Iowa. I was able to pass on what I learned throughout the year-long process in committee meetings and in the final report.&nbsp;</p><p>I learned something else from Dr. Grant that she conveyed in a much more subtle way and that I have taken into all of my committee work: skepticism is healthy and necessary. By watching and listening to her in her leadership roles, I realized that what people say in meetings is not necessarily reflective of how they operate in their positions and that not everyone shares the same mission when it comes to gender equity. That sounds vague, likely because I am attempting not to name names. I prefer to frame it as coming to an understanding about the nuance of gender equity work which included how to read people who are allegedly on the "same team." #multifacetedmetaphor</p><p>I didn't really keep in touch with her after I graduated, so I am not sure how she felt about all the horrible things that have happened in Iowa athletics in regard to racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination in the past decade. I imagine it was heartbreaking and frustrating, but I see her legacy so clearly at the center of<a href="http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2021/10/settlement-at-iowa.html" target="_blank"> last fall's settlement</a> which reinstated women's swimming and diving and prompted the addition of women's wrestling. I have faith that those of us who have been influenced by her will continue to do the work to which she devoted her life.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.press-citizen.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/2022/01/04/c-vivian-stringer-shares-emotional-letter-impact-death-christine-grant-iowa-womens-basketball-ncaa/9079190002/?fbclid=IwAR1vnyu92yP_pC8NxzJ0Ja5iEX2jgGj_6aOQG6LIN-E0-fak_dQdlUPG71o" target="_blank">Article about CG's hiring of C. Vivian Stringer and growing WBB at Iowa</a></p><p><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/32970872/christine-grant-title-ix-pioneer-long-iowa-women-athletic-director-dies-85" target="_blank">Mechelle Voepel's piece from ESPN.com</a></p><p><a href="https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2021/12/31/dr-christine-grant/" target="_blank">Iowa Athletics has a great collection of photos </a>(including one with CG, Martina Navratilova, Gloria Steinem, and Billie Jean King!) and stories</p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5551381398351262468'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5551381398351262468'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/01/thanks-dr-grant.html' title='Thanks, Dr. Grant'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-9107212541362656097</id><published>2021-10-21T19:30:00.064-04:00</published><updated>2021-10-22T12:46:07.025-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cutting teams"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="roster management"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rowing"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="swimming"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="University of Iowa"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="wrestling"/><title type='text'>Settlement at Iowa</title><content type='html'><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[this is officially old news now but still important to note]</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was always going to be a toss up. Which would come to an end first: the pandemic or the lawsuit against University of Iowa?&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">University of Iowa for the...win?&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The lawsuit, brought by women athletes at the school in the wake of the attempted cuts in fall 2020, has ended with a settlement. The women's swimming and diving team had been reinstated while the lawsuit was pending and it will continue on for at least seven years. (Terms of the settlement state that it cannot be cut until then.) AND...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">...there will be a <a href="https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2021-09-24/university-of-iowa-establishes-womens-wrestling-as-part-of-title-ix-lawsuit-settlement" target="_blank">new women's wrestling team</a>!! Iowa will be home to the first women's wrestling team in any of the power 5 conferences. And that is quite fitting given Iowa wrestling's renown. Let's give an enthusiastic cheer:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">HIP HIP HOORAY!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And now the "<i>really</i>?" part of this post.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The conditions of the settlement, in addition to keeping women's S&amp;D for seven years and $400,000 which will cover expenses, was to add another women's team and the administration&nbsp;chose wrestling. According to Athletics Director Gary Barta, conversations about adding women's wrestling had allegedly been happening prior to the lawsuits and settlement. However:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Were it not for the Title IX lawsuit, I wasn't ready to add women's wrestling yet,” Barta said.&nbsp;</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">[How does this man still have his job? Has any athletic director had so many lawsuits during their tenure&nbsp;as Gary&nbsp;Barta? (Probably, but still, I reiterate past statements about his Teflon-ness.)]</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">So this historic thing is about to happen and because Gary Barta is the athletic director and it will happen under his watch, he will get credit for it even though it was 1) the result of a lawsuit over the denial of sporting opportunities to women and 2) he didn't even want to do it.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">A significant, but less touted condition of the settlement, is a roster cap on women's rowing. The team cannot exceed 75 spots. Roster inflation has long been an issue and especially so in women's rowing which some schools have used to "balance" out the (inflated but widely accepted as normal) football rosters (approximately 120 students).&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">The lawyer for the plaintiffs expressed hope that the capping&nbsp;trend would continue thus creating more quality experiences for women athletes.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/9107212541362656097'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/9107212541362656097'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2021/10/settlement-at-iowa.html' title='Settlement at Iowa'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-2558291854002100019</id><published>2021-04-05T16:38:00.009-04:00</published><updated>2021-04-05T16:38:54.889-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="basketball"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="equal treatment"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="NCAA"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Oregon State"/><title type='text'>Yes...and...but...well...: The NCAA Tourney and Issues of Equality</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;The following is an only slightly less contorted path through my original thought process in the wake of&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/oregon-ducks/sedona-princes-viral-tiktok-shows-ncaa-had-enough-space-equal-weight-room" target="_blank">Sedona Prince's Tik Tok</a> revealing the gross inequities between the workout facilities for the women and men at this year's NCAA basketball tournament. (There was also an issue with the swag bags. Side note: interesting that the NCAA is allowed to give gifts to athletes, but no one else is.)</p><p><u>Initial thought</u>:&nbsp;</p><p>Anyone who is surprised has not been paying attention.&nbsp;</p><p><u>Some less cynical second [and so forth thought(s)]</u>:&nbsp;</p><p>It seems that this very obvious disparate treatment brought some needed attention to the issue. We rarely see more than a handful (fingerful? thanks for all you do, Dawn Staley!) of women coaches speak up about issues of inequality. Not surprising given that women coaches are often fired for speaking up (#Iowa, #FresnoState, #FloridaGulfCoast, #manyotherplaces). This is good--the speaking up, not the firing.&nbsp;</p><p>But of course the condemnation was of the NCAA, which is pretty low hanging fruit in terms of places to blame. No institution is going to retaliate against a coach for criticizing the NCAA over this clear mistreatment of women athletes. In short: they spoke out about a fairly one-sided issue. I feel this to be true because I have yet to hear any utterance of "keep politics out of sports." This is interesting because...<br /></p><p>...politicians got in on this too. Most notably, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/25/congress-wants-answers-from-ncaa-after-weight-room-disparity-at-womens-basketball-tournament.html" target="_blank">Mikie Sherrill, a representative from New Jersey, is leading</a> a group of three dozen representatives in demanding a response from the NCAA. I read this as opportunistic. There is nothing in the recent past regarding Congress's efforts to reform sports or hold organizations accountable (NFL concussion crisis, steroids in baseball) that makes me believe this action will create a reckoning for the NCAA in regard to gender equity.&nbsp;</p><p><u>The truly less cynical part</u>:</p><p>I chose to come to the conclusion that the reason this disparity was so glaring and that the reason Prince and her peers recognized it right away was because there has been a large improvement in the quality of experiences women intercollegiate athletes are receiving. These women are accustomed to better treatment. They have great weight rooms and other training and practice facilities; they have access to amazing coaching staffs and medical staffs, etc.&nbsp;</p><p>Erin and I wrote about Title IX's <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/facschol/240/" target="_blank">equal treatment mandate in 2012</a>. We had many, many, many examples of disparate treatment that schools were forced to resolve. I don't know if things have gotten better universally, or even just within intercollegiate sports (versus interscholastic) in terms of equal treatment. Or rather, I don't know how to measure that.&nbsp;</p><p>I suspect that things are better for the top teams. So Oregon State probably does treat its men's and women's basketball team fairly equally. But that is easier to see and achieve because it is a like versus like comparison. How is the field hockey team treated? How is the field hockey team, plus the women's soccer team, plus the cross country team, plus the women's tennis team treated in comparison to the football team? Because that is how treatment is supposed to be assessed. It is not team versus team; it is based on the quality of experience for men athletes and female athletes. So if the 125 members of the men's football team receive locker room space with TVs and couches and other sweet amenities, 125 women athletes should be receiving something comparable. Are they?&nbsp;</p><p>Who knows? Accountability only comes when a complaint or a lawsuit is filed. Some schools do Title IX self studies, but...self studies. How effective are they?&nbsp;</p><p>The NCAA used to have an accreditation process for Division I schools which included a Title IX component, but they stopped those years ago. I argue that one (but not the only) reason this weight room fiasco happened was because the NCAA is out of touch with what is happening on campuses. If NCAA folks were going into schools, they would see what equal treatment looked like. Prince and the other women expected something better because they get much better on their respective campuses.&nbsp;</p><p><u>What I hope will come out of this</u>:</p><p>More student athletes learn about Title IX and what they are due because of this law and act on it.</p><p>More student athletes advocate for the equal treatment of all women's teams on campus, not just the ones that are popular or successful.</p><p>I was going to add something here about wanting the NCAA to get back into schools, but I don't think the organization, as a whole, has proven itself trustworthy or effective. My wish for its effective governance is countered by my hope that it collapses under the weight of its own dysfunction. So that's a wash.&nbsp;</p><p>Congress will give more funding to OCR so it can effectively investigate Title IX complaints. <i>Maybe </i>it could even do something very pro-active and institute a system through which schools report how they are providing equitable treatment and not just equitable opportunities. <br /></p><p>&nbsp;<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2558291854002100019'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2558291854002100019'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2021/04/yesandbutwell-ncaa-tourney-and-issues.html' title='Yes...and...but...well...: The NCAA Tourney and Issues of Equality'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-7788922014221269243</id><published>2021-02-06T16:12:00.003-05:00</published><updated>2021-02-06T16:12:15.599-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="budget cuts"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cutting teams"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Dartmouth College"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="University of Iowa"/><title type='text'>Update: All those cuts</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;Since my last post on cuts to intercollegiate athletics there have been a few developments.</p><p>1. The women swimmers bringing a lawsuit against the University of Iowa have put up <a href="https://swimswam.com/iowa-swimmers-post-360000-bond-in-title-ix-lawsuit-against-university/?fbclid=IwAR0z4w5crbWyAO9wP7aGYdGvoNCFM4GbSSEYLchofaRuwt1inWWL1HWERZY" target="_blank">a $360,000 bond </a>to cover the costs associated with keeping the team in operation pending the lawsuit. If the university prevails in proving it is not in violation of Title IX, then the money goes to the school. Paying the bond is an indication that the athletes (and their counsel) believe they will win and that they will pursue the case even when they are no longer NCAA eligible (i.e., they graduate).&nbsp;</p><p>The school asked the judge to overturn the injunction (from December) which allowed the team to continue operations. Some see this as an indication that this is going to be a long process. This is so disappointing because one, some swimmers are waiting to make decisions about transferring. Two, it just shows that Iowa athletics is once again digging in its heels into some very weak ground as they continue to maintain that the department is an equitable place.&nbsp;</p><p>A line from the above linked article mentioned that cutting women's swimming and diving was a risky move for Athletics Director Gary Barta, who was the center of a Title IX lawsuit a mere four years ago. I don't think Barta sees it this way. He has withstood plenty of controversies and lawsuits in his tenure. I guess Gary Barta is like Teflon...Teflon that costs his employer millions and millions of dollars.&nbsp;</p><p>2. Who decided digging in their heels on the issues of equitable cuts was not a good idea? Dartmouth. They are<a href="https://www.vnews.com/Dartmouth-College-to-reinstate-women-s-golf-and-swimming---diving-teams-for-full-Title-IX-compliance-38601387" target="_blank"> reinstating all five of their teams</a> (including the three men's teams that were cut in the July 2020 announcement). The reason provided was fear of a Title IX lawsuit, which explains why the women's teams were reinstated but not why they included the men's teams.&nbsp;</p><p>In a statement, the athletic director said: "We have recently learned that elements of the data that athletics used to confirm continued Title IX compliance may not have been complete. In light of this discovery, Dartmouth will immediately reinstate all five teams.”&nbsp;</p><p>Curious. The AD does not know what data to use to determine compliance? Does he know what compliance is? While I am happy for the male athletes who will continue their athletic careers at Dartmouth, cutting the men's teams was not the issue.</p><p>Reinstating all the teams was a way to temporarily make this controversy go away. I predict that Dartmouth, which has over 30 intercollegiate sports, will make cuts in the near future, though. But this time they make sure they find all that data before announcing their decision. <br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/7788922014221269243'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/7788922014221269243'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2021/02/update-all-those-cuts.html' title='Update: All those cuts'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-2270281465703205648</id><published>2021-01-15T21:50:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2021-01-15T21:50:48.201-05:00</updated><title type='text'>COVID and the cuts</title><content type='html'><p>&nbsp;There have been a lot of cuts to intercollegiate teams in the past 8+ months. Most school administrators have cited budget issues related to the pandemic as the primary reason. I don't doubt the veracity of these claims, but it might also be valuable to look at what kinds of decisions and practices athletics admins have been engaged in in the past decade plus (since the last recession) that might have exacerbated the current economic struggles. I will not be doing that work here (that's a long-term project for those with more economic expertise than me).&nbsp;</p><p>This post is a roundup of some of the cuts and the Title IX implications. </p><p><u>Brown University</u></p><p>Brown's cuts, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/01/brown-university-cuts-11-varsity-sports" target="_blank">announced in June</a>, are not--administrators say--related to COVID. They did come, however, in the midst of the pandemic.&nbsp;</p><p>Initially the university announced the elimination of 11 varsity teams and the elevation of 2 club sports to varsity status. Brown carried a large number of intercollegiate teams (38, third in the US), but did not have a lot of titles among those teams. The cuts were made, athletics administrators say, to increase the competitiveness of Brown athletics. The cuts allow more money to be put into making teams more competitive, especially in the Ivy league. Thus not a budget reduction, but budget reallocation. (Again, Brown has not provided their athletics budget so no one knows if this is true or, and here is where Title IX comes into play, how the monies are being reallocated.)&nbsp;</p><p>Cut: fencing (MW), golf (MW), squash (MW), women’s skiing, women’s equestrian, and men’s indoor track and field, outdoor T&amp;F, and cross-country</p><p>Added: women's sailing, co-ed sailing<br /></p><p>Athletes<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/07/01/brown-university-athletic-cuts-challenged-court" target="_blank"> mobilized quickly and worked with the ACLU of Rhode Island and not-for-profit Public Justice </a>to challenge the elimination of the 5 women's teams as a violation of the university's 1998 agreement in Cohen v. Brown , which required to university to offer opportunities to women that are proportional to their undergraduate enrollment. Brown said the elevation of women's and co-ed sailing would meet the proportionality requirement; lawyers for the athletes said that the university cannot count teams that do not exist yet. Not having the background to assess that argument, I will skip ahead to <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/courts/2020/12/15/judge-approves-equity-settlement-female-athletes-brown-univ/3904212001/" target="_blank">the settlement</a>:</p><p>In December, Brown agreed to reinstate women's equestrian and women's fencing. The agreement also sets an expiration date, August 2024, to the Cohen agreement, which the university has said has impeded the desired competitiveness.&nbsp;</p><p>A few things about this case:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>the argument that having to maintain proportionality impeded the competitive strength of the university's athletics programs is weak. The university can cut women's programs, it just also has to cut men's programs. Proportionality is actually the only prong that allows cuts to women's programs. This is a (mis)management issue on Brown's part. It contributes to the negative "Title IX made us do it" discourse. Brown is saying "we couldn't be competitive because of Title IX." That is not true. <br /></li><li>This settlement is an important reminder of the power and legacy of legal action. The athletes who argued that Brown was in contempt of the Cohen agreement were not even born when that agreement was made. I hope some history was learned here.</li><li>The men's track programs were also reinstated, but not as part of the settlement. The university reconsidered its decision after criticism over its commitment to racial diversity. I know this is not a Title IX issue, but it is an opportunity to encourage the historically marginalized to support one another. The cuts that are happening are not just about the single issue of gender. We see this also in the story of Brown student athlete Lauren Reischer, who is on the equestrian team. She also has cerebral palsy and never thought she would have the opportunity to compete in intercollegiate sports. Are the cut makers truly investigating whose opportunities are being taken away?<br /></li></ul><p><u>Dartmouth University</u><br /></p>&nbsp;Elsewhere in the Ivy League, Dartmouth<a href="https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2020/07/dartmouth-cuts-five-sports-teams-and-closes-hanover-country-club" target="_blank"> announced, in July, it</a> was cutting 5 sports: men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's golf, and men's lightweight rowing. The cuts are to address, according to administration, the costs of recruitment. Included in the announcement was mention that, even with the cuts, the university will remain in compliance with prong 1 of Title IX. Members of the women's golf and swimming teams have retained counsel, however, and their lawyer se<a href="https://www.vpr.org/post/some-dartmouth-college-athletes-consider-title-ix-suit-after-program-cuts#stream/0" target="_blank">nt a letter to the school last month asking</a> the teams to be reinstated because the university is NOT in compliance with prong 1 and that it would need to add 47 more opportunities for women in order to be so. (I have not looked at any numbers--which would be a year old anyway--to check the validity of the the conflicting statements about compliance.) The university's response--if they have made one--has not been announced yet. <p><u>University of Iowa</u></p><p>The University of Iowa, no stranger to Title IX problems and various athletics-related scandals, annou<a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/08/25/iowa-cuts-sports-swimming-gymnastics-tennis" target="_blank">nced in August that it was cutting</a> men's and women's swimming and diving, men's gymnastics, and men's tennis. <br /></p><p>The university was critiqued for the way it made the announcement. The athletes were brought into the arena (safely distanced) where athletics director Gary Barta told them the bad news and then left the arena to get on with the business of being an athletic director at a Big 10 school whose football season had just been cancelled. He left his staff to address questions and comfort the athletes. Football was the reason, according to Barta, for the elimination of the four programs; the budget shortfalls that would result from a cancelled football season. But when the Big 10 season <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/2020/09/16/big-ten-football-2020-fall-season-restarting-kevin-warren/5819427002/" target="_blank">was reinstated after</a> protestation from parents and player lawsuits, Barta/the university <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-college-football-virus-outbreak-iowa-football-ad33c9b848c9a6f663165ce45980d9b5" target="_blank">did not reverse their</a> decision. There would be increased costs to COVID testing and precautions that had to be met to run a football season. Also, there were those raises (totaling over half a million dollars) were given to members of the football coaching staff.&nbsp;</p><p>[There is definitely a Title IX issue with football, at many schools, being the only sport that was allowed to happen this past fall. This is an issue for another post.] </p><p>The reaffirmation of the cuts resulted in the <a href="https://swimswam.com/university-of-iowa-womens-swimmers-file-lawsuit-against-school/" target="_blank">women's swim team filing a Title IX lawsuit</a> against the university. Iowa claims prong 1 compliance but a 2016 OCR investigation could not confirm that it met proportionality requirements and the current lawsuit states that the university has padded its rosters (for example fielding a women's rowing team whose total roster is more than 40% higher than the average DI team) rather than providing real opportunities for women athletes. The lawsuit also states that the proportionality gap is equal to around 50 opportunities. That is more than enough to field a women's team (or 2...).&nbsp;</p><p>The swimmers won an injunction <a href="https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/judge-blocks-university-of-iowa-from-cutting-womens-swimming-and-diving-20201223" target="_blank">at the end of December that prevents the university from </a>cutting the team until the lawsuit goes to court. <br /></p><p><u>Eastern Carolina University</u></p><p>In <a href="https://news.ecu.edu/2020/05/21/ecu-athletics-announces-program-changes/" target="_blank">May ECU cut four sports:</a> women's and men's swimming and diving, and men's and women's tennis. Under <a href="https://news.ecu.edu/2020/05/21/ecu-athletics-announces-program-changes/" target="_blank">threat of a lawsuit from the cut women's teams</a>, the university reversed its decision last week. In the announcement, the athletics director said they hired a Title IX consultant after receiving notice that the women were planning a lawsuit. One issue was that 60% of scholarships dollars go to male athletes but the school has a near 50-50 split of men and women athletes. ECU now has to work on hiring back or hiring new coaches for the teams.&nbsp;</p><p><u>William and Mary</u></p><p>The Virginia college<a href="https://wydaily.com/local-news/2020/11/06/heres-how-much-it-cost-wm-to-avoid-a-title-ix-lawsuit/" target="_blank"> cut 7 sports in September but facing a lawsuit fro</a>m the eliminated women's teams (swimming and diving, volleyball, gymnastics), all three were reinstated a month later. A spokesperson for the college said it was to avoid costly litigation. It was also announced that the school would do a compliance review and come up with a plan to achieve equity in athletics opportunities. The quick turnabout seemed to be due in part to the initial announcement letter; it was plagiarized from the letter Stanford University used to announce its own cuts. Facing a vote of no confidence, the athletics director (who issued the letter) resigned.&nbsp;</p><p>The college also chose to reinstate the cut men's teams. They will conduct a Title IX review to be completed by the end of the summer. <br /></p><p>While I am glad that ECU and William and Mary quickly changed courses, it's curious and worrisome that they made the cuts so cavalierly in the first place, i.e., without any regard to gender equity. In&nbsp; November, I was on a panel about COVID and Title IX as part of the annual North American Society for the Sociology of Sport meeting. We discussed how the pandemic will (or already has) impact(ed) equality in athletics; how are the decisions made; how are they being framed; what are the more subtle effects that might not be visible to those outside of athletics; how are women coaches being affected in the short and long term.&nbsp;</p><p>There are so many questions currently and coming. Cuts are an immediate effect of pandemic-induced budget shortfalls, and thus they are the easiest (relatively speaking) to discuss at this moment. But I hope to be able to delve into some of the longer-lasting and less obvious effects of the pandemic on equity in sports in the coming months. </p><p><br /></p></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2270281465703205648'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2270281465703205648'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2021/01/covid-and-cuts.html' title='COVID and the cuts'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-2796985646928824879</id><published>2020-05-11T18:27:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2020-05-11T18:27:22.432-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="coach"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sexual assault"/><title type='text'>New rules issued, Part I: The exemptions </title><content type='html'>Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos released the long awaited changes to Title IX, set to go into effect in August. There are many things to be concerned about, but given that we are all doing our best to manage all the concerns we're facing these days, I am going focus on just one today: the provision that coaches are not mandatory reporters of sexual assault.<br /><br />This change is horribly unethical, dangerous, and inconsistent.<br /><br />First, the rule change--which the Department of Education has said is legally binding, going against precedent regarding Title IX rule changes in the last decade--also potentially includes faculty and staff, in and outside of athletics departments. Schools will get to choose who is a mandatory reporter. Some say most schools will not change current rules about everyone (except counselors and members of the clergy) being mandatory reporters. But I think it is striking that coaches and other members of athletics departments were specifically singled out as potentially being exempt. The new rule says only that Title IX coordinators and others with "authority to institute corrective measures" are required reporters. (I address that categorization below.) <br /><br />The specific choice to potentially exempt coaches is inconsistent with common practice about mandatory reporting. Coaches are mandatory reporters of abuse at the youth and high school levels because part of their job is maintaining the welfare of children. At the college level, we are not dealing with children (legally speaking), but coaches have a responsibility for the welfare of their students and the students within their communities, i.e., college campuses.<br /><br />I do not know if this rule change is about the perception that college sports are minor leagues/semi-professional and thus the coach is merely an employee rather than a contributing member of an educational community. But I find it hard to justify that coaches are so different and/or detached that they can be released from this responsibility that the majority of other employees have.<br /><br />To be clear, this is a responsibility that I believe members of the academic community should have and exempting faculty and staff would also be wrong. It is part of the job. It requires actual labor in the form of mandatory training. While employees often bemoan this training because on college campuses many see it is as uncompensated labor (a not unreasonable assessment based on my experiences because of the way it is presented), it is both ethically necessary and educational.<br /><br />This is because, in addition to the educational mission, colleges and universities are required to keep their students safe. We have very large rule books that outline violations of student (and employee) conduct. The rationale behind those rules--many of which do not involve illegal activity (i.e., lighting a candle in the residence halls)--is to keep individuals and the community safe.<br /><br />That's it. Schools have a responsibility to keep the members of their community safe. The rule change is inconsistent with current norms and prevailing philosophies. And it is dangerous. <br /><br />For one, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/12/12/ncaa-looks-other-way-athletes-punished-sex-offenses-play/4360460002/" target="_blank">studies and investigations are showing that athletes </a>commit sexual violence in greater numbers than their non-athlete peers. Coaches are more likely to be the people who hear about these crimes. And now the DOE is telling them they can handle those reports however they choose. <br /><br />Two, we already have evidence of the dangers of coaches who do not report. How many women and girls could have been spared the horrific abuse of Larry Nasser if the coaches who were told about his assaults on athletes at Michigan State had actually reported it? Hundreds. What about Ohio State, w<a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/05/09/ohio-state-settlement-richard-strauss-sexual-abuse?xid=socialflow_facebook_si&amp;utm_campaign=sportsillustrated&amp;utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;fbclid=IwAR2sRRSks8P9btttyUfTAGpZhQzI1KbRm1eUdDs3hRNLVx8tupHFdYJrgks" target="_blank">hich just made an initial settlement </a>with 350 former members of the OSU community? Same.<br /><br />Add up the cases from all over college sports where even a single accusation went unrecorded. Given the data, we know that sexual offenders are often repeat offenders. So likely thousands of cases of sexual assault could have prevented if people had done what they were supposed to do. And now the Department of Education is saying they are not required to do that anymore. What will <i>those</i> numbers look like?<br /><br />To have these data and not consider it is simply unethical. This is a dangerous rule change and the rationale behind it fails to consider current practices and the need for cultural change.<br /><br />The DOE says that exempting coaches and others means that victims who do not want to to make official charges or trigger an investigation have a greater opportunity to do so. But good training and reporting practices already account for this. Mandatory reporters, with the right training, know where to direct students if they do not want their allegation documented. And good Title IX coordinators know how to maintain confidentiality when they receive a report.<br /><br />Yes, there are many schools who do a bad job, because they do not take the issues seriously. Exempting more people from reporting is not the way to make schools behave better. It just lets them off the hook. People who are mandatory reporters ARE taking "corrective actions" when they report. They are initiating a chain of events that leads to investigations and reporting and sometimes hearings. They are illustrating that everyone on campus has a stake in this issue which is one way to change the campus climate.&nbsp;<br /><br />The only people protected by this rule change are those who will not be held responsible for sexual assault and those that can now legally cover up of those crimes. <br /><br /></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2796985646928824879'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2796985646928824879'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-rules-issued-part-i-exemptions.html' title='New rules issued, Part I: The exemptions '/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-2203689806249275248</id><published>2019-12-21T11:28:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-21T11:28:03.600-05:00</updated><title type='text'>New policies and data on college athletes and sexual assault</title><content type='html'><br /><br />New information about the prevalence of sexual assault committed by intercollegiate athletes came out this week via a one-year investigation by USA Today. Studying the prevalence of sexual assault in colleges has been notoriously difficult. There is widespread underreporting. Also, there are the cover-ups of reports, which we are learning more and more about in the #metoo era. The news organization encountered difficulties simply getting schools who had punished athletes to reveal that information. (More on that below.)<br /><br />In short, the secrecy and shame around sexual assault continues, and it affects all of those who have been assaulted and the culture of sexual violence in which we live (I am speaking in a US context specifically). What USA Today did find, based on the data provided by 35 DI public schools was alarming though not necessarily surprising given the (few) studies that have come before. <br /><br />In the past five years, NCAA athletes have been disciplined for sexual assault more than three times as often as non-athlete students. Across the 30+ schools who turned over their data to the paper, student-athletes comprise only 3% of the undergraduate population but were responsible for 9% of the sexual misconduct violations. Football players are less than 1% of the student population and were found responsible for 6% of violations.&nbsp;<br /><br /><br />The data was pretty hard to come by according to the paper's own reporting on its process. (Some generously offered it for a price.) Those 35&nbsp; schoolsrepresent only a 15% response rate. Lack of compliance with the paper's request for the information certainly indicates that schools do not want it known, despite the fact that <i>all </i>sexual misconduct violations are already reported to the government (Clery Act), just how widespread the issue of<i> athletes </i>and misconduct really is.<br /><br />The lack of transparency, according to USA Today, puts them in the company of the Catholic Church, USA Gymnastics, and Boy Scouts of America. Several lawmakers are also upset that schools did not turn over the data as requested, so it is possible the legislature may get involved. The secrecy* affects the reporting of assaults committed by college athletes and, I think, calls into question just how effectively schools are dealing and will deal with reports when they are brought against athletes.<br /><br />The other major finding from the investigation implicates the NCAA which, unsurprisingly,<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/12/18/ncaa-president-mark-emmert-deflects-blame-sexual-assault-policy/2693095001/" target="_blank"> resents the implication</a>(s). Student-athletes found responsible for committing sexual misconduct are not punished by the NCAA--in any way. (Remember this is the organization that punished student-athletes for selling their autographs.) Eleven of the student-athletes found responsible for sexual misconduct from the data collected (as well as 22 others whose cases were covered in the media in the last five years) <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/12/12/ncaa-looks-other-way-athletes-punished-sex-offenses-play/4360460002/" target="_blank">transferred to other schools and continued their college athletic careers</a>. At least one is currently in the NBA.<br /><br />President Mark Emmert, when asked about what the NCAA would do in response to this new information, said that it was the responsibility of the schools to work these things out because they are the "decision makers." [pause for ironic laughter and eye rolling here] Also, he said the NCAA takes the issue of sexual assault seriously and that they spend "an enormous amount of time on the issue of the prevention of sexual assault.” <br /><br />He did not give examples of what is done during all this time. But, according to the article, the NCAA's board of governors spent some of it last August failing to move forward with a recommendation from the Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence which urged the group to pursue legislation to deal with athletes who commit sexual and domestic violence.<br /><br />Further pressed by an audience member asking if the NCAA might consider following what the SEC has done in banning transfers who have committed domestic or sexual violence Emmert responded that “all the rules are different, and all of them are complicated. It is an enormously complex issue when you look at the details of it. I think it’s an issue that’s going to routinely be discussed and debated widely.”<br /><br />This is the organization that a month ago--after decades of failing to consider meaningful ways to remedy the exploitation of student athletes--said it would allow them to earn money off their images. So threat of lawsuit and the demise of the organization makes them take "complicated" things and act very swiftly on them. I have been waiting for the moment when someone who has been sexually assaulted by a student-athlete who had a known past history would sue the NCAA. With the current publicity, and the NCAA's weakened state after the California law, it seems like the right time for the right lawyer to at least pursue holding the NCAA partly responsible for this problem. Because despite Emmert's protestations, they are indeed a key decision (and culture) maker. Though the NCAA is not subject to Title IX and the deliberate indifference standard, what they are (not) doing now is certainly indifference. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Privacy rights afforded by FERPA do not apply to settled cases in which the responding individual was found in violation of school policy. om releasing the results of hearings in which students were found in violation of college policies. These records can include the offending student's name, the violation, and the sanction. The reporting individual's name is never revealed. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2203689806249275248'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2203689806249275248'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/12/new-policies-and-data-on-college.html' title='New policies and data on college athletes and sexual assault'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-9029232053406846082</id><published>2019-09-03T15:40:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-09-03T15:40:52.039-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="high school"/><title type='text'>Studying participation </title><content type='html'>I am unclear about what motivated<a href="https://www.omaha.com/neprepzone/high-school-participation-raises-questions-are-girls-less-interested-in/article_280973e5-7d70-54f4-9fba-75d9e078d1a5.html" target="_blank"> this article out of Omaha </a>about the participation of high school girls in sports, but it fails to understand Title IX, its philosophical foundations and application, in ways that I have seen since we began this blog over a decade ago. I will discuss a few of these at the end of this post, but I want to begin with what really struck me about this very short article. First, we need to start having conversations about how the philosophy and practice of high school sports has changed since Title IX was enacted and how these changes may or do affect opportunities, interest, and treatment. Second, I want to consider what it might look like to measure interest differently.<br /><br />Starting with the latter: the article repeatedly talks about the interests of girls. It asks whether girls are less interested in sports. Again not a new question. And then suggests that Title IX isn't really fair if girls are just less interested in sports and though it does not definitively conclude that they are less interested, the author does cite some numbers about the plateauing of the participation rates.<br /><br />So while the author does not say these numbers indicate lack of interest (small kudos), there is the assumption that the greater number of boys who participate does indicate interest. This, I argue, is a false assumption. Are boys who play actually interested in playing? Granted, Title IX mandates equitable opportunities for the historically underrepresented sex so we look to girls to see if they are interested<i> as one measure of equity.</i> (More on this below.) But why aren't we studying how interested boys really are? We have discussed how stereotypes about female athletes can affect participation but what about stereotypes about boys who don't play sports? Are the numbers of boys playing actually overinflated because we assume that their participation equals interest whereas for girls we look at other things that affect (lack of) participation. In short, let's add some nuance to these research questions.<br /><br />To my first point above, we need to start looking at how the changes in the culture of high school sports has affected participation. In the era of specialization and the obsessive quest for the college scholarship, high school sports are becoming less and less about participation and skill-building and fun and enhancing the educational experience. Maybe this is not the environment some students desire and so they choose different extracurriculars. But who chooses not to participate in high school sports because of the ultra-competitive environment is influenced by the culture. What are the other opportunities? Do these other opportunities bring similar or greater amounts of cultural and social capital? These questions have different answers based on one's gender and race and class and ability and religion (and other identity factors). How will we (or should we) consider these when we talk about what is fair in regard to the distribution of opportunities?<br /><br />One critique of the article, including the one law professor expert the author uses, is related to this concept of fair. The standard of fairness that Title IX uses is equity--not strict equality. And it has specific measures in place to determine equity in regard to opportunities--none of which are a 50/50 division. Equal distribution of opportunities is not even a goal of Title IX, despite what the law professor says. Fairness is not always about equality; arguably what is fair is rarely about what is equal.<br /><br />Overall the article fails to understand this, the philosophy of the law, and its history; including the fact that Title IX was not not enforced for much of the 80s and the effects of lack of enforcement have lingered and are nearly impossible to measure. This is made all the more impossible by the fact that high schools are not required to report their participation numbers and thus their compliance is only challenged (via complaint and/or lawsuit) rather than monitored. Is that fair?? <br /><br /><br /><br /></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/9029232053406846082'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/9029232053406846082'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/09/studying-participation.html' title='Studying participation '/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-4070191327895907427</id><published>2019-08-30T11:05:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-08-30T11:05:34.614-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Study shows benefits of “preponderance of evidence” standard, including better accuracy</title><content type='html'>Against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s pending changes to Title IX regulations, William Kidder posted a new <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3323982">article</a> in the <i>Journal of College &amp; University Law</i> that delves deeply into social policy questions around the standard of evidence (“preponderance of evidence” or “clear and convincing” evidence) in Title IX and other contexts.Among his key findings noted in the abstract: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">[T]he main tendency if campuses were to shift to the clear and convincing evidence standard in Title IX adjudications would likely be a net decrease in accuracy because the rise in “false negative” errors(student or employee commits sexual misconduct but is found not responsible) would outnumber the corresponding decrease in “false positive errors." <br /><br />[T]he clear and convincing standard would also make it more difficult – other things being equal – for campuses to impose disciplinary accountability in cases of serial sexual misconduct and serial sexual harassment. </blockquote>The article also reviewed other, similar adjudicatory contexts, such as U.S. federal civil rights adjudications, faculty research misconduct cases linked to federal research grants, civil anti-fraud proceedings, attorney debarment/discipline cases and physician misconduct/license cases, to determine which standard of evidence is used. The author found that in a large majority of these areas, preponderance of evidence is used as the standard of evidence.</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/4070191327895907427'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/4070191327895907427'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/08/study-shows-benefits-of-preponderance.html' title='Study shows benefits of “preponderance of evidence” standard, including better accuracy'/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-2326994736847421152</id><published>2019-06-11T09:39:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2019-06-11T09:39:16.812-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bathrooms"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="facilities"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="high school"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Indiana"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="transgender"/><title type='text'>Indiana Transgender Student Entitled To Damages in Bathroom Case</title><content type='html'>A federal court in Indiana ruled in favor of a transgender student's motion for summary judgment against a school district whose policies did not permit him to use the facilities that matched his gender identity. After the Seventh Circuit's decision in <a href="http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2017/05/appeals-court-rules-in-favor-of.html">Whitaker</a>, it is not terribly surprising that a court in that district court would have no trouble applying Title IX in a transgender student's favor -- and indeed, the court in this case had already granted the plaintiff a preliminary injunction ordering the school to let him use the men's room. But the court's most recent decision went beyond the injunction question, is notable for confirming that the district is indeed liable for money damages to compensate the plaintiff for harm caused by its policy of exclusion (though the court deferred to a jury the fact-laden question of when exactly the student's damages began to accrue). <br /><br />In reaching this conclusion, the court had to address defendant Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation's argument that the plaintiff had not done enough to put the school district on notice of his right to use the boys' bathroom. Until he filed this lawsuit at the end of his junior year, school officials arguably did not know, for example, that the plaintiff found the gender-neutral option available to him unsatisfactory, that he had begun to transition using hormones, and that he was limiting his water intake to avoid needing to use any bathroom at school. But the court said such notice is not required to establish liability. The uncontested facts were that the school's policy did not permit him to use the proper bathroom and so his rights were violated. ("EVSC has failed to point to any facts by which a reasonable factfinder could determine that it had any policy other than one requiring transgender students to use a bathroom that did not conform with their gender identify. In sum, EVSC’s practice violated Title IX. The violation occurred regardless of whether EVSC knew that J.A.W. or any other student was affected by its policy."). Moreover, the school's policy is an act of intentional discrimination, liability for money damages exists without regard to the actual notice plus deliberate indifference standard that applies when the harm to the plaintiff is caused by someone other than the defendant.<br /><br />The court also ruled that the school board's policy violated the Constitution's Equal Protection clause.&nbsp; Heightened scrutiny applies because the policy cannot be read without referencing the plaintiff's sex, and school "put forth no justification for its practice in its summary judgment briefing." <br /><br /><br />&nbsp;J.A.W. v. Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., No. 3:18-CV-37-WTL-MPB, 2019 WL 2411342 (S.D. Ind. June 7, 2019).</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2326994736847421152'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/2326994736847421152'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/06/indiana-transgender-student-entitled-to.html' title='Indiana Transgender Student Entitled To Damages in Bathroom Case'/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-8430022272432017943</id><published>2019-06-05T10:17:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2019-06-05T10:17:19.708-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="discipline"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sexual assault"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="University of Oregon"/><title type='text'>Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Anti-Male Bias Claims Against University of Oregon </title><content type='html'>One of the most interesting and important procedural questions to arise from the spate of Title IX challenges brought by students disciplined for sexual misconduct relates to the pleading standard that courts should use to evaluate their sex discrimination claims. It's essentially a question of how much and what kind of detail plaintiffs need to put in their complaint in order to initiate litigation challenging that their punishments were tainted by anti-male bias prohibited by Title IX. Too little detail and the case is dismissed before it really begins. Enough detail, and the parties proceed with the discovery phase of litigation before having another chance to get the case dismissed before trial.<br /><br />"How much detail should a plaintiff be required to plead?" is a question with a lot riding on it. On the one hand, it's not fair to require plaintiffs to plead a lot of detail since this question comes up early in the litigation before the plaintiff has had a chance to take depositions, request documents, and demand answers to interrogatories--all of which happen at the discovery phrase. On the other hand, if the standard is too lenient, plaintiffs can force defendants into litigation without any real basis for doing so. If every student who is disciplined for sexual misconduct can draw a university into expensive and time-consuming discovery, universities might be reluctant to discipline them in the first place, placing other students at risk. Lower courts called upon to strike this balance have been vexed by the seeming mixed messages sent by the Supreme Court. In 2002, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/00-1853">it affirmed </a>that discrimination plaintiffs follow the normal rules of civil procedure, which requires only a "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief” (and thus refused to incorporate into the pleading requirements the elements of the McDonnell-Douglas framework, which creates a rebuttable presumption that the defendant was motivated by bias, where other obvious explanations have been ruled out). But in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-1126.ZS.html">later</a> <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-1015.ZS.html">cases</a>, the Court held that pleadings need to be supported by sufficient facts that the render the claim plausible on its face; bare conclusory allegations are not enough.&nbsp; <br /><br />In Title IX discipline cases, plaintiffs frequently allege that the university committed procedural or substantive errors in their case specifically because university officials were biased against men. They often allege as the basis for this conclusion that the university is facing political and social pressure to curb sexual misconduct. Some courts, <a href="http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2016/08/second-circuit-reinstated-disciplined.html">most notably the Second Circuit Court of Appeals</a>, has accepted this kind of pleading as sufficient, reasoning that it's a plausible basis for anti-male bias. Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals took the opposite view. In a case against the University of Oregon, three male former basketball players alleged that the university engaged in unlawful sex discrimination when it suspended them and revoked their athletic scholarships for engaging in nonconsensual sex with a female student (they also alleged due process violations, which were also dismissed). But the court rejected that the alleged fact of the University president’s speech, in which he condemned the plaintiffs' misconduct prior to their hearing, and referred to the complainant as a "survivor", as well as campus protests surrounding the case, was a plausible basis for concluding that anti-male bias (as opposed to anti-respondent bias) tainted the disciplinary process. Notably, the plaintiffs did not plead any facts connecting the speech or the protests and University’s disciplinary actions "to the fact that the student athletes are male." The court also rejected that pleading that "the University disciplines male students for sexual misconduct but never female students" is a plausible basis for concluding that the university could be biased against men, since it fails to contextualize this fact with any suggestion that female University students are similarly situated, i.e., that they have been accused of comparable misconduct.<br /><br />The Second and the Ninth Circuit's disagreement essentially boils down to whether being accused of sexual misconduct is so intrinsically tied to maleness that bias against the former is evidence of bias against the latter. In my opinion it makes sense to distinguish between conduct and status as the Ninth Circuit does. It will be interesting to see if this Circuit split endures and whether this issue about pleading pushes Title IX to the Supreme Court's docket once again.<br /><br />Austin v. Univ. of Oregon, No. 17-35559, 2019 WL 2347380 (9th Cir. June 4, 2019).</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8430022272432017943'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8430022272432017943'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/06/ninth-circuit-affirms-dismissal-of-anti.html' title='Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Anti-Male Bias Claims Against University of Oregon '/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-378780372247446840</id><published>2019-05-29T09:56:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2019-05-29T09:56:53.369-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bathrooms"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="facilities"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Pennsylvania"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="transgender"/><title type='text'>Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenging to School's Transgender-Inclusive Bathroom Policy</title><content type='html'>Yesterday the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-transgender-bathroom-case_n_5ced3bcae4b0ce71b748c338">denied</a> a petition for certiorari that, had it been granted, would have led the Court to review a Third Circuit appellate court ruling that upheld a Pennsylvania school district's policy of allowing transgender students to use restrooms and lockers in an inclusive manner, consistent with their gender identities. Students and parents who disagree with the policy had challenged it as a violation of the students' constitutional right to privacy, as well as under Title IX. By denying the petition, the Court ensures that the appellate ruling in the school's favor will stand.<br /><br />This is good news for transgender students because it means there is no chance, in the near future anyway, that the Supreme Court will undermine this and other lower court rulings that uphold schools' inclusive bathroom and restroom policies. For now, while school districts will likely continue to face similar challenges, appellate courts will be free to construe the Constitution's due process clause, as well as Title IX, in support of the same conclusion as was reached by the Third Circuit, that neither source of law creates a right that is violated when schools adopt a gender-inclusive bathroom/locker room policy. Specifically, the Third Circuit agreed with the lower court that the student-plaintiff's privacy rights were not violated by sharing facilities with transgender students, and even if they were, "the state had a compelling interest in not discriminating against transgender students" to which the district's policy was narrowly tailored. The appellate court also endorsed the lower court's conclusions that the policy did not violate Title IX claim because (1) it applied equally to all students regardless of their sex and gender identity (2) "the mere presence of a transgender student in a locker room should not be objectively offensive to a reasonable person given the safeguards of the school’s policy."<br /><br />Yet this good news accompanies concern arising from the Supreme Court's granting of cert last month in a <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/r-g-g-r-harris-funeral-homes-inc-v-equal-opportunity-employment-commission/">Title VII employment discrimination case</a> that will give the Court the opportunity to settle whether the law protects transgender employees from discrimination, either on the rationale that discriminating against someone's transgender status is a form of sex discrimination (since such discrimination targets someone because their sex and their gender are not aligned) or on the rationale that sex discrimination includes discriminating against someone whose gender identity and expression does not conform to stereotypes associated with that person's sex.&nbsp; Since both of these theories have been used to support the rights of transgender students under Title IX to access bathrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identities, a negative outcome in the Title VII case could put Title IX cases in jeopardy (though Equal Protection claims, which have also been found to support transgender students' rights, would not be as directly affected.)&nbsp; In other words, what the Court may be signaling by granting cert in case asserting transgender person's civil rights but denying it in a case challenging the accommodation of a transgender person's civil rights is that inclusive policies like the school district's here are legal, but not required. We will just have to see what the Court does next Term. <br /><br />Doe by through Doe v. Boyertown Area Sch. Dist., 897 F.3d 518, 525 (3d Cir. 2018), cert. denied, No. 18-658, 2019 WL 2257330 (U.S. May 28, 2019)</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/378780372247446840'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/378780372247446840'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/05/supreme-court-wont-hear-challenging-to.html' title='Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenging to School's Transgender-Inclusive Bathroom Policy'/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-8801065197100764785</id><published>2019-05-26T21:46:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-05-26T21:46:52.041-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Baylor University"/><title type='text'>Baylor update</title><content type='html'>I won't bury the lede here: <a href="https://deadspin.com/art-briles-hired-to-coach-football-at-texas-high-school-1835025188" target="_blank">Art Briles has a coaching job</a>.<br /><br />Though to be fair he actually is already coaching. He has a job in Italy as head coach of Florence’s Italian Football League team. (I am pretty sure they mean American football and not soccer. It must get very confusing when he tells any non-American what he does and where he is doing it.) <br /><br />I am not sure what the Italian Football League is, who plays in it, what level of football it is. I am not sure how or when he got this job. I am not sure how much it all matters because Briles is coming back to the US--back to Texas in fact, where he will coach high school football.<br /><br />High school football.<br /><br />In Texas.<br /><br />Art Briles.<br /><br />The Mt Vernon school board unanimously approved him. They must think it is a coup. Or that enough time has passed. I don't know. I am still in shock that people (as in more than one person) thinks it is ok for the man who assisted in the cover-up of sexual assault by his own players should have a job coaching teenagers. [For<a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/ncaa-football/news/art-briles-receives-support-from-robert-griffin-iii-baylor-high-school-team-rape-allegations/1q9uh7mq0jkzm1e0b1ykdcyezo" target="_blank">mer Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is supporting Briles's </a>"second chance."] Some will say this is the start of his climb back up the ladder. I will ask: why wasn't that ladder burned down?<br /><br />[EDIT: I see that I missed<a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/american-football/news/art-briles-opens-up-about-coaching-in-italy-baylor-scandal/peftm5mq49mm1po9403dmu88u" target="_blank"> this article f</a>rom March about the job in Italy. There are two former Baylor players on that team and they continue to support Briles who continues to say he knew of no criminal activity committed by his players. Briles's comment to the reporter about the Baylor scandal: "Do I think it'll ever go away? Gosh, I hope. Of course, I don't know. I spend a lot of time in the present."]<br /><br />When Briles had a head coaching job for about two second with a pro team in Canada, someone realized the problem with that and took it away. But that was Canada, and this is Texas. From what my students who watch Friday Night Tykes tell me, Texas football (at least as it is portrayed on this "reality show") is equivalent to child abuse. So there is a "logic" one might argue in Art Briles getting this particular job.<br /><br />And it might be important to note that Briles has coached high school before; in Stephenville, Texas in the 1990s. One of his players was accused of raping a female student there. The girl's father reported it to Briles who said said he didn't know what the father wanted him to do about it, calling it a "he said/she said" case. Not much seems to have changed.&nbsp; <br /><br />In other Baylor news:<br /><br />L<a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/college/article/Plaintiffs-lawyers-in-Baylor-sex-case-petition-13779660.php" target="_blank">awyers representing 15 women are trying to get the law firm Pepper Hamilton to release their report on the scandal. </a>Previously, many believed that the board of regents at Baylor drafted a report based on the recommendations made by Pepper Hamilton. But it turns out the law firm wrote a report and summary. Connected to the lack of documentation, plaintiffs lawyers are none too pleased that the school is turning over relevant emails (that's how they found out about the PH report) two years after the initial subpoena for documents.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/new-title-ix-lawsuit-accuses-baylor-of-botching-rape-case/article_5a4df2fa-6877-5aef-a658-4fe11adf1672.html" target="_blank">A new(er) accusation against the school </a>came from an assault in fall 2017--so after Briles left and as Baylor continued to vehemently argue that there was no sexually hostile climate at its school. A female athlete is accusing the school of mishandling her accusation of sexual assault against two football players. The woman's friends had apparently joked with her about not getting raped by football players. [1. Not funny and 2. see above about sexually hostile climate.] In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims she was victim-shamed by the Title IX office. One of two men was found in violation and expelled from Baylor and the school claims all parties involved in the incident are no longer at Baylor and that they followed the correct procedures in its investigation and sanctioning. So things seem a little unclear, though the main contention, based on what I read, is how the victim was treated by the Title IX office and the information that was shared about her and the incident during the investigation.<br /><br /><br />Why this matters: <br />Well of course because: Briles should not be coaching; sexual assault is wrong; systematic cover ups of sexual assault is also wrong; not addressing a sexually hostile climate is illegal.<br /><br />But the news of Briles's new job came out just as I finished the spring semester during which I taught sports ethics and sport and society. In all my courses we read <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801216651339?journalCode=vawa" target="_blank">Sexual Coercion Practices Among Undergraduate Male Recreational Athletes, Intercollegiate Athletes, and Non-Athletes</a>. (I've written about this piece before.)<br /><br />This semester I had a handful of students write in their margin notes: what about a study of female athletes assaulting men? Or asking why the survey the authors used did not use female athletes and ask them about their history of sexual coercion. In an essay about the ethical issues around sexual violence, a student argued that the punishment for false reporting of rape should be the same as the punishment for rape and that the issue of false reporting against athletes was practically an epidemic. This was a class in which they researched the scandal at Baylor. Briles's seeming redemption is not going to help people take this issue more seriously. There is the perception that he is being punished (he is--rightly so) and that he is the fall guy (probably also true). The fall guy role is especially damaging in getting people to take this situation (at Baylor and more generally) seriously. The redemption this football coach gets is fueled by the same attitude that let all those players go (largely) unpunished by the school and all those victims suffer. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8801065197100764785'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/8801065197100764785'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/05/baylor-update.html' title='Baylor update'/><author><name>kris</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00253304688174621216</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-7733011277861774911</id><published>2019-05-09T18:25:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2019-05-09T18:25:13.731-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cutting teams"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="field hockey"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Lock Haven University"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rugby"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="swimming"/><title type='text'>No Summary Judgment in Lock Haven University Athletics Case</title><content type='html'>A federal court in Pennsylvania denied parties' motions for summary judgment in a case challenging gender-based inequities in athletic opportunities at Lock Haven University. The university had announced plans to terminate its women's swim team and demote field hockey to Division II.<br /><br />The evidence in the case allowed the court to rule as a matter of law that Lock Haven did not satisfy either of the first two parts of the three-part test for effective accommodation. Though "only" 3.36 percentage points separated the percent of athletic opportunities for female students (52.18%) and the percent of female students in the student body (55.54%) , the court acknowledged this translates to 36 athletic opportunities, a number not too small to support a new varsity team. Nor did evidence show a history of continuing practice for adding opportunities in women's sports, since Lock Haven both added and ended women's teams in the past and also denied requests from club teams for elevation to varsity status.<br /><br />But the court could not decide as a matter of law, without the benefit of trial, whether Lock Haven satisfied part three. It has not yet in fact terminated the swim team, so it has not created the situation that would automatically render it out of compliance with the satisfied interests test. That left the court to consider conflicting evidence: on the one hand repeated requests from the women's club rugby team requesting elevation to varsity status, and on the other hand, survey data suggesting female students' interests in additional athletic opportunities is low. So the court withheld summary judgment on this issue and deferred it to trial.&nbsp; It also saved for trial the question of whether demoting the field hockey team to Division II would violate Title IX, since it hasn't happened yet and Lock Haven claims to have withdrawn that idea from consideration. The plaintiffs' equal treatment claims also raised too many issues of disputed fact to warrant summary judgment for either side.<br /><br />Last, the court addressed whether this case could proceed as a class action purporting to represent "all present, prospective, and future University female students who participate, seek to participate, or have been deterred or prevented from participating in or obtaining the benefits of intercollegiate athletics at Lock Haven University." Class certification is helpful to plaintiffs especially in Title IX cases because it keeps the case from becoming moot when the current student-plaintiffs graduate.&nbsp; Here, the court rejected class certification of such a broad class, noting that the named plaintiffs, who are members of the swim, field hockey, and club rugby team, are differently situated from each other and from other present and future students with respect to the remedies they would favor. But the court permitted the plaintiffs to request certification of three subclasses, each purporting to represent the present and future potential members of each team.&nbsp; <br /><br />Theoretically, then, the next step in this case is for the plaintiffs to repropose their class certification request, and for the court to schedule trial. I admit, though, I'd be highly surprised to see an actual trial in this case. I think a decision to drop swimming would be impossible to defend unless the university first closes the proportionality gap, and it should be clear that it can't elevate a men's team (wrestling) to Division I and offer no similar benefit to any women's team. Moreover, Lock Haven also argues that it is close to complying with proportionality. Given all this, I'd bet the parties would be more likely to settle than to engage in an expensive and time-consuming trial.&nbsp; <br /><br />Robb v. Lock Haven Univ. of Pennsylvania, No. 4:17-CV-00964, 2019 WL 2005636 (M.D. Pa. May 7, 2019).</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/7733011277861774911'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/7733011277861774911'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/05/no-summary-judgment-in-lock-haven.html' title='No Summary Judgment in Lock Haven University Athletics Case'/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34418100.post-5277536375912750714</id><published>2019-04-26T15:30:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-04-26T15:30:41.267-04:00</updated><title type='text'>OCR Is Still Enforcing Title IX, and Noncompliance Still Abounds </title><content type='html'>Investigating the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights Title IX enforcement records, journalist Tyler Kingkade <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/exclusive-new-documents-show-the-trump-administration-has-confronted-dozens-of-school-districts-across-the-country-for-mishandling-sexual-assault-cases/">discovered </a>that the agency has a resolved at least 70 cases and found many problems with the sexual misconduct policies and practices of school districts, colleges and universities. In higher education, examples of violations included things like unjustifiable delay and other impairment of the complainants' rights, but even more alarming problems were discovered in the agency's investigations into institutions at the K-12 level. Kingkade found that six school districts didn't even investigate sexual misconduct at all.&nbsp; One major metropolitan school district, in District of Columbia, simply files incident reports with local law enforcement. Elsewhere in the country are examples of school districts whose Title IX coordinators haven't worked on any sexual misconduct issues in the last 11 years, and another whose principal only calls the Title IX coordinator for complaints about equity in sports.&nbsp; Kingkade reports several examples of egregious sexual misconduct -- some perpetrated by teachers, others by students -- that school districts knew about but failed to investigate or provide help to the victims.<br /><br />These findings are important to highlight for a couple of reasons. First, they remind us that we shouldn't leave school districts out of the public and political scrutiny that colleges and universities already receive on these issues. Second, it's proof that Title IX continues to be necessary to challenge the lack of attention that school and university administrators give to sexual misconduct cases. This disconnect was noted in the article by former OCR Director Catherine Lhamon, who said, "The department is still documenting very serious sexual violence and unbelievable harm to students today in school, [but] its policy arm is telling schools to stop looking for that...The need is exponentially higher, and OCR is turning in the other direction."&nbsp; If the agency follows through on its proposed regulations focused campus hearing due process and narrowing the scope of misconduct that falls under Title IX, it will be hard to reconcile those changes with the pattern of problems that its own enforcement efforts continue to reveal. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5277536375912750714'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34418100/posts/default/5277536375912750714'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2019/04/ocr-is-still-enforcing-title-ix-and.html' title='OCR Is Still Enforcing Title IX, and Noncompliance Still Abounds '/><author><name>EBuz</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15887304836671743255</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry></feed>If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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