As Title IX turns 50, many US schools ignoring the sex bias ban

Today, we're going to talk about Title IX. What's Title IX? It's a statute within the Education Act passed by the US Congress in 1972 which states that: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." That has been the law of the land for 50 years. And in recognition of that milestone, a group of journalists from the University of MD have spent four months looking closely into whether Title IX is doing what it set out to do when it comes to high school sports. They have published a series of reports called “Unlevel Playing Fields.” Three guests join me today to talk about this investigation and what it has revealed. Sandy Banisky is a former editor at the Baltimore Sun, and the Abell Professor in Baltimore Journalism for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. And, full disclosure, Sandy also serves as a member of the board of directors of WYPR… Mark Hyman has been a good friend of Midday for many years. He is a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and other publications, and he’s written three books on youth sports. He is the director of The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of MD… Lauren Rosh is a senior at the University of MD, and the managing editor of Testudo Times, which covers sports at the school. She is one of more than 20 student reporters who contributed reporting to this project. The report was a collaborative effort by the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. All our guests join us on Zoom from College Park, Maryland.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.