The Uses and Abuses of Title IX

• In Event: Poster Session: Class and Inequality & Women and Politics Research
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Identity Politics and Policies

Abstract

Title IX was enacted in 1972 to prohibit sex discrimination at universities receiving federal funding. It passed with little fanfare as a small provision in a much larger omnibus education reauthorization bill. More importantly, in its passage, Title IX contained no mention of sexual harassment or sexual violence. Yet, despite bipartisan consensus during its passage, Title IX––and the issue of sexual violence on college campuses–– is an extraordinarily politicized and highly contentious topic. Furthermore, Title IX has become the office that handles all sexual violence issues on college campuses. Therefore, the erosion of this bipartisan consensus presents a puzzle to political scientists: Why is partisan conflict so intense regarding Title IX? A discovery of the landmark moments that led to Title IX becoming the exclusive tool for addressing and preventing sexual violence on campus is key to this puzzle.

I argue that as Title IX expanded from solely addressing sex discrimination into the primary mechanism for adjudicating sexual violence claims on campus, the policy underwent a period of politicization. Thus, as Title IX grew in importance, policymakers addressed a new audience: political pundits rather than potential victims of sexual assault. I draw on three different methods to make this claim:

1) I will engage in a content analysis of school websites over time for discussions of consent. I code these websites and look for variations due to the features of the institution and the state. The different treatments of consent in state-funded schools in different politically run states is a key to many of these questions.

2) I employ a survey of Title IX staff to gauge their understandings of consent and again to see what shapes those understandings. I strive to make contact with administrators from decades ago to further my historical understanding of Title IX change.
3) A survey of students and their perceptions of Title IX and sexual violence on campus provides crucial insight for the state of Title IX today in 2022.

Despite widespread attention paid to sexual assault on campuses, sexual violence remains endemic across American universities, indicating that the design and implementation of Title IX have become insufficient in meeting the needs of college students. By locating the processes that facilitated the politicization of Title IX, we can better understand and address the policy's ongoing limitations in reducing sexual violence on campuses.

I explore the politicization of Title IX since its passage. Key moments leading to it becoming the exclusive tool for rape prevention on campus illuminate limitations to the current status of sexual violence prevention at the university level.

Author

• Maya Novak-Herzog, Northwestern University