Midland College Softball Team to Get Locker Rooms

Congratulations to the Midland College (Texas) softball team, who will finally have locker rooms and equipment storage at their practice facility starting next year. A local, city park serves as the home field for Midland softball, so the college had to get permission from the local Parks & Rec board to erect a $30,000 temporary structure for use by the college team.

This story may seem insignificant, but I think it underscores a couple of bigger points about the role of Title IX. First is the fact that the college could not use as an excuse the fact that they do not own or control the city park where the softball team plays. If parks and rec had said no to the temporary structure, Midland College would have had to figure out another way to get equivalent facilities for its softball team as the men's teams enjoy. (I assume by the way the article references Title IX that all the men's teams have locker rooms at their facilities.)

Second, I want to highlight the last line of the article, a quote from Midland's vice president of student services, who expressed gratitude for the city for finally giving approval to the structure, saying, "The last time the project fell through, I had all 18 players in my office upset about it. They will be very happy to know that they will have locker rooms." Does this line remind anyone else of A Hero for Daisy? In 1976, the Yale women's crew team was similarly "upset" about the lack of locker room facilities at their practice site, which they famously protested in the office of a female administrator (by taking off their clothes to reveal the words "Title IX" written in marker on their bare bodies). Despite the progress made under Title IX, female athletes are still battling for the basic right to a place to change their clothes.

Leadership conference to address Title IX at 35

Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts is hosting its annual Women in Leadership Conference on Friday, November 9. The one-day event features numerous panels. You can read a full description of them all here.
In the afternoon there is a panel entitled "Title IX at 35: The Pipeline's in Place--Now What?" The purpose of the panel is to explore the legislation's effects not just on athletics but the classroom and the composition of the contemporary American boardroom. The panelists are all female leaders and represent a variety of occupations. Of special note is Mary Mazzio, the founder and president of 50 Eggs Productions who also produced A Hero for Daisy and whose company allows us to use a still from the documentary on our page!

A Hero for Daisy screening

If anyone is in the area of Middlebury College (VT) tomorrow (1/19) afternoon at 2pm check out the free open-to-the-public screening of the documentary A Hero for Daisy from which our masthead picture is taken. Writer, director and producer Mary Mazzio will be there to discuss the film after the screening.
Even if you cannot make it to VT tomorrow, we at the Title IX blog highly recommend this film. I had to get it from interlibrary loan when I screened it for my Women and Sport class a few years ago but it was worth it.