Murphy bill would boost Title IX enforcement
As Title IX turned 50 Thursday, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy announced plans to introduce a bill that will seek to solidify components of the landmark legislation.
Speaking at an event hosted by the women's sports advocacy company Voice in Sport Thursday morning, Murphy offered details of the Fair Play for Women Act of 2022. Murphy is co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C.
The bill, which has yet to be finalized, will hold both college conferences and the NCAA accountable in Title IX application while streamlining how participation numbers are reported by high schools and colleges. The bill will also require stiffer penalties for schools that are not Title IX compliant.
Murphy said Thursday was the ideal day to unveil the bill.
“We've gone from having only about 300,000 girls participating in high school sports to today, having 3.4 million girls in high school sports competition and we still have more boys than girls participating, which tells you even at the high school level we have work to do,” Murphy said. “But that journey is one to celebrate, as well. So for as much as today is about recognizing our progress and celebrating those who have gotten us here ... for passing this law in the first place, it's also a reminder that we've still got to be vigilant we still have work to do.”
Murphy, a longtime vocal critic of the NCAA, said the bill will take aim at the governing body's role in inequity. Citing a viral video from the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament that showed the difference between accommodations offered to men and women, Murphy said the legislation will widen the scope of Title IX enforcement.
“One of the things we do in this act is make perfectly clear, crystal clear, that Title IX not only applies to individual colleges, but to conferences and the NCAA as well, to make sure that that kind of ridiculous disparate treatment never happens again,” Murphy said.
As a private entity, the NCAA could challenge the bill's contention that the organization is beholden to federal Title IX regulation. But the NCAA has sought assistance from federal lawmakers in the name, image and likeness space, so the body may be less inclined to resist.
Enforcement and punishment is also part of the bill. Murphy said fines can be levied against school that are not compliant.
Title IX enforcement has been contingent on athletes recognizing inequity and bringing a complaint to a school. Murphy's bill seeks to create a “one shop clearinghouse for data on how much colleges are spending on women's sports versus men's sports, so that everybody can see without having to do a whole bunch of independent research and digging, what that disparity looks like.”
UConn was found to be non-compliant in a federal lawsuit filed by a female rowers in response to the school's attempt to eliminate the sport. In fact, U.S. District
Judge Stephen Underhill ruled in May 2021 that the school had not been in compliance with the federal Title IX law since 2008.
But Title IX experts say that's not uncommon — athletic departments across the country are consistently not complying with the law and are only moved to adhere when athletes threaten action.
Murphy, an ardent UConn sports fans who regularly tweets about the Huskies, used the school's basketball programs as an example of the slow progress sparked by Title IX and the continued disparity in spending on men's and women's sports.
“Even at UConn, right? Where arguably the women have a bigger following for basketball than the men do, for a long time the men had charter flights when they went to their games and the women were on chartered buses,” Murphy said. “Now that's changed at the University of Connecticut, but it just shows you how that gap still persists.”
Other tenets of the bill are a requirement that high schools report athletic participation number to the Department of Education, and that athletic department employees and college athletes are better educated on Title IX law.
The hope is that athletes and school employees will be more likely to report inequity if they have a stronger grasp of the law.
“At its heart, we are attempting to pass a piece of legislation that allows us to make real the commitment of Title IX and to finish the work that's been undone,” Murphy said.