The University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform announces a Symposium to tackle the timely and controversial issue of the evolution of gender equity in athletics. The Symposium is designed to promote critical discussion of Title IX and its application to athletics. We hope to evaluate Title IX’s impact, propose ways in which its interpretation and enforcement could be changed or improved, and consider alternative ways of achieving gender equity in sports. We will discuss Title IX as it affects both high school and collegiate sports.

Why Title IX? Title IX has impacted enormously women’s level of participation in sports, and as a result has changed the face of athletics. A 1997 survey of women athletic administrators from around the country listed Title IX as the most or one of the most significant events affecting women’s athletics since 1972. Title IX has been under attack, however, by proponents of certain men’s sports who claim that it hurts their teams. For example, football boosters argue that their sport should be exempted from regulations. University administrators complain about the cost of trying to comply with the Department of Education’s requirements. At the same time, feminists and women’s sports advocates have criticized the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) for its lax enforcement efforts. Title IX has spurred much litigation, especially during the past ten years. Female athletes have taken their universities to court to prevent women’s sports from being cut, or to gain varsity status for women’s club teams. Surprisingly, the Supreme Court has yet to consider a case specifically addressing the issue of gender equity in athletics. Due to the continuing controversy surrounding Title IX and its current enforcement, there is abundant room for reform in this area of the law, making the subject ideally suited to a Journal of Law Reform symposium.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

February 4, 2000

Opening Speech by Tom A. Goss, Director of Athletics, University of Michigan

Panel I: Who Should Enforce Gender Equity In Sports?

Panel II: How Should We Determine Gender Equity in Sports?

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christine H.B. Grant, Women’s Athletic Director, University of Iowa

February 5, 2000

Panel III: The Use of Title IX in High School Sports

Panel IV: Race, Gender, and Sports

Panel V: What is the Future of Gender Equity in Sports? Do We Need to Go Beyond Title IX?

Roundtable: Tying Perspectives Together

Banquet Keynote Speaker: Dr. Donna A. Lopiano,
Executive Director Women’s Sports Foundation

PARTICIPANTS

Barbara Bickford, Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science
University of North Carolina

Deborah L. Brake, Professor of Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Norma V. Cantú, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education

Walter B. Connolly, Jr., Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.
Detroit, Michigan

Rocio Cordoba, Staff Attorney
ACLU of Southern California

James E. Delany, Commissioner
Big Ten Conference

Doris Dixon, Director of Federal Relations
NCAA

Marcia Federbush, author of the first complaint against a university for gross discrimination in athletics
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tom A. Goss, Director of Athletics
University of Michigan

Dr. Christine H.B. Grant, Women’s Athletic Director and Associate Professor, Department of Sport, Health, Leisure and Physical Studies
University of Iowa

Jean Ledwith King, Attorney
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Julia C. Lamber, Professor of Law
Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington

Curt A. Levey, Director of Legal and Public Affairs
Center for Individual Rights

Dr. Donna A. Lopiano, Executive Director
Women’s Sports Foundation

Bernard P. Maloy, Associate Professor, Division of Kinesiology,
University of Michigan

Alfred D. Mathewson, Academic Dean and Professor of Law
University of New Mexico Law School

Mark Rosenbaum, Director, ACLU of Southern California and
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Michigan

The Honorable Donald E. Shelton,
Washtenaw County Circuit Court

Raymond L. Yasser, Professor of Law,
University of Tulsa College of Law

Marilyn Yarbrough, Professor of Law
University of North Carolina School of Law

PANELS

Panel I: Who should enforce gender equity in sports?
The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education currently oversees university’s compliance with Title IX. However, gender equity in sports might be better enforced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and/or various athletic conferences. This panel seeks to explore the feasibility and rationale behind letting these types of organizations determine whether colleges and high schools are providing enough athletic opportunities for women.

Panel II: How should we determine gender equity in sports?
This panel proposes to discuss the problems of measuring gender equity in sports. The current tests for determining for whether an institution has achieved gender equity among its teams focus on the proportion of male and female athletes to the student body, the abilities and interests of the underrepresented sex, as well the continued expansion of opportunities for the underrepresented sex.  However, this test has been criticized for not taking into account the actual realities of different sports.

Panel III: The use of Title IX in high school sports
Much of the debate about Title IX has focused on its use in intercollegiate athletics. However, many more men and women play high school sports than compete at the college level. This panel seeks to examine whether more effort should be put into enforcing Title IX at the interscholastic level as well as discuss whether gender equity among high school teams is substantially different than their college counterparts.

Panel IV: Race, Gender, and Sports
This panel discussion would focus on the intersection of race and gender in effects of Title IX on the opportunities for non-white men and women in athletics. This panel would address the ongoing debate regarding opportunities for black women and men in college sports and in particular the contention that Title IX helps white middle-class women at the expense of poor minority men.

Panel V: What is the future of gender equity in sports? Do we need to go beyond Title IX?
Although Title IX has provided thousands of girls and women with the chance to play competitive sports, some wonder whether the next wave of opportunities will come through different legal mechanisms. The ACLU of Southern California is currently pursuing an Equal Protection Act claim on behalf of a girls’ softball league in Los Angeles.

Panel VI: Roundtable
Participants react to the symposium’s presentations and offer additional perspectives on Title IX and gender equity in athletics.