Ep. #26 Fifty Years Later: A Look at Title IX Through the Eyes of a Title IX Lawyer, ft. Lexi Trumble

In Ep. #26, Caroline talks with Lexi Trumble, a Title IX Gender Equity Associate Attorney at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. In her role, Lexi helps counsel colleges and universities across the country on legal and compliance matters such as Title IX athletics and sexual misconduct, athletics strategic planning, and school and university law.June 23, 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX, a federal law that has radically changed the educational and athletic landscape in the United States. The 37-word amendment, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972, reads: 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.Fifty years after the enactment of Title IX, there is significant evidence to demonstrate the positive impact that this landmark legislation has had on millions of women and girls in the United States - particularly when it comes to participation in athletics. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation’s “50 Years of Title IX” report, female participation in high school sports rose from 294,015 in the 1971-72 school year to 3.4 million in 2018-19. Female participation in sports at the collegiate level schools rose from 29,977 in 1971-72 to 215,486 in 2020-21 among NCAA schools (Women’s Sports Foundation 2022).  While there have been significant gains related to female participation in sports that can be directly attributed to Title IX, significant gender disparities exist across every level of the sports industry. In the episode, hear Lexi explain more about this game-changing law, and specifically the impact that Title IX has had on women’s sports at the collegiate level.