Former senator emphasizes importance, relevance of Title IX

Thirty-one years ago, a title was passed that leveled the playing field for women in collegiate sports.\nFriday afternoon, that same bill -- Title IX -- was discussed in the IU School of Law's Moot Court Room by a panel of experts and scholars, including former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh -- an IU alumnus.\nThe panel focused on the athletic aspect of the title and how women's athletics have changed because of this bill.\nBayh, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1962 to 1980 and co-authored Title IX, was the guest of the hour. He opened the discussion with an overview on the emergence of Title IX and summarized his involvement in the process.\nTelling of his childhood years and experiences from his grandparents' Indiana farm, Bayh revealed how he came to believe in the equality of women.\nHe then conveyed the struggles and obstacles which had to be overcome in order to pass Title IX.\nIn the closing of his speech, Bayh reminisced over a conversation he had with his father at a young age in respect to the equality of women.\n"Little girls need strong bodies to carry around their minds in, just like little boys," Bayh said.\nMary Jo Kane, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport in the college of education and human development at the University of Minnesota, spoke of the progress Title IX has made since its debut in 1972.\n"In one generation we have gone from young girls hoping there is a team to young girls hoping they made the team," Kane said.\nShe continued to speak about the effects Title IX has had on women's athletics as a whole.\n"The question before Title IX was, 'Should females play sports?'" Kane said. "Because of Title IX, the question is, 'What will sports be like for females?'" \nMitzi Witchger, a gender equities consultant and the founder of Girls Really Expect a Team, proceeded Kane and discussed the accomplishments of women athletes.\n"Girls and women are changing the anatomy of sports," Witchger said.\nLaw Professor Julia Lamber, the last speaker on the panel, touched on women's issues outside the realm of athletics that have been influenced by Title IX, such as women being treated equally in the pursuit of higher education.\n"Without Title IX, admission into professional schools (women's admissions) would not have changed that fast," Lamber said.\nAmong the topics discussed, Title IX's effect on men's athletic teams was emphasized. The accusation of Title IX forcing men's athletic teams to set quotas was defended.\n"It is not Title IX that has quotas, it's sports that has quotas," Lamber said.\nThe accusation of Title IX causing quota setting became a hot topic in athletics and was brought to court.\n"The federal courts have said Title IX is not a quota system," Kane said.\nAt the conclusion of the discussion, a 15-minute audience participation portion was allotted. During this time the members of the panel answered various questions that the audience held.\nAddressed in this question and answer phase was the question of how long it will take for Title IX to be completely implemented and the playing field leveled.\n"It will take a while, but as long as we keep on making progress, we will get there," Bayh said.\n-- Contact staff writer Amber Nicholas at amrnicho@indiana.edu.