Recording of webinar now available
When Gayle Hutchinson, president of California State University, Chico, heard of the passage of Title IX legislation 50 years ago at the age of 15, she and her fellow female students marched down to her high school principal’s office to demand practice time for her sports team at the school gym. Up until then, girls’ teams were forced to travel to a local elementary school to practice. She was also one of the first women to receive a college athletic scholarship thanks to Title IX.
These were just some of the examples of the early impact Title IX had on the panel of women leaders who gathered to discuss the milestone event at a webinar on July 13, “Title IX: Celebrating 50 Years and Preparing for the Future.”
The event, part of ACE’s ongoing Women’s Leadership Speaker Series, featured Hutchinson; Linda A. Livingstone, president of Baylor University; Fayneese S. Miller, president of Hamline University; and moderator Luoluo Hong, vice president for student engagement and well-being at Georgia Institute of Technology.
The group had a lively and thought-provoking discussion about the positive changes and improvements Title IX brought to the higher education sector, not just in athletics. They discussed how through banning gender discrimination, barriers were lifted to allow more women to earn bachelor’s degrees and pursue opportunities in STEM fields.
While Title IX has also opened up more opportunities for women in leadership positions at colleges and universities, Miller pointed out that women of color are still not being supported enough on their pathways to leadership roles. “If we are going to really be on the forefront when it comes to Title IX, we have got to suspend this need to have people who are like us be in these positions, so that more women of color can assume these leadership roles. We as presidents have to be the model and play a role by having a say in who is hired,” she said.
In recent years, efforts around Title IX have shifted more to addressing sexual harassment, including sexual assault. The women spoke in detail about how they are working to meet Title IX requirements to prevent sexual harassment and address sexual violence claims on their campuses, but beyond that they discussed how important it was to be a leader and make sure these efforts are woven into their institutions’ strategic planning, while eliminating barriers and discrimination.
“I think as we think about all that Title IX represents, we really shouldn't think about doing it because we have to comply,” said Livingstone. “We really need to have the mindset that we're doing this because it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to create an equilibrium. It's the right thing to create a safe environment and that's our responsibility regardless of whether the federal government tells us that we have to do it or not.”
You can watch the full recording here. You can also visit the Women’s Leadership Speaker Series page to learn more about the series and access previous event recordings. This series is a collaboration between ACE and the ACE Women’s Network Executive Council and is designed to attract, develop, and support women leaders in higher education.