The Goal

Back in time

Title IX is a section of the Educational Amendments passed by Congress in 1972. Title IX prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletic programs.(OCR,1998) With little controversy, the NCAA and high school administrators complained that boy’s sports would suffer if women’s sports became equally funded. Two years later regulations to implement the law and it was released but not put into effect until July 1975.

Title IX became law on July 1, 1972 in order to recognize the problems of gender discrimination in any program, organization or agency that receives federal funds. This also protects individuals against employment discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin, and religion.Title IX protects students, faculty and staff in federally funded education programs. It applies to all elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. It also applies to programs and activities affiliated with schools that receive federal funds ( internships or School-to-Work programs) and to federally funded education programs run by additional entities such as correctional facilities, health care entities, unions and businesses.

In the business world

Federal law remedies for discrimination are based upon Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to employers with fifteen or more employees. People who work for smaller employers are usually protected by similar state anti-sex discrimination laws.

In the sports world

The law states that no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient, and no recipient shall provide any such athletics separately on such basis.

The Case

Volleyball has made its way into the mainstream media again with the discrimination lawsuit filed by a law student, Renee Smith after the NCAA denied her eligibility waiver and she was not able to join her college's volleyball team. She argues that a disproportionate number of waivers are granted to men over women and that the NCAA is violating Title IX.(Medill,1998-1999) Like most discrimination cases, this case has transformed from a simple discrimination case into something completely different. Lower courts and appeals courts have both determined eligibility and ineligibility on this case based on the whether the NCAA is a federally funded organization and therefore fall under Title IX. The case has transformed from a discrimination case to a ruling on whether the NCAA is or is not a federal funded school. In order for the case to continue the Supreme Court must rule that the NCAA is a federally backed organization and subject to Title IX provisions. The Court reversed in 1999, unanimously holding that the NCAA cannot be held liable under the sex discrimination provisions of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972, which bans discrimination by an institution receiving federal funds. (About,1999)

In the 1993-1994 NCAA Manual, The post baccalaureate Bylaw it states:

A student-athlete who is enrolled in a graduate or professional school of the institution he or she previously attended as an undergraduate (regardless of whether the individual has