April 28, 2007

BAWSI Co-Hosts the "Title IX Today, Title IX Tomorrow" Conference

On April 28, 2007, BAWSI and the Stanford Center on Ethics co-hosted the "Title IX Today, Title IX Tomorrow" conference at Stanford University. This one-day conference featured leading policy makers, administrators, scholars, and public officials with the ability to influence the effective implementation of Title IX in the years to come. It included discussions of how to assess gender equity in college athletics, how to increase opportunities for women students and coaches without diminishing them for men, and how to promote change in athletic contexts beyond the intercollegiate setting.

Conference speakers included Sandy Barbour, director of athletics at UC Berkeley, Bob Bowlsby, director of athletics at Stanford, Anita DeFrantz, president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation, Donna Lopiano, CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation, Marcia Greenberger, CEO of the National Women's Law Center, and Tara VanDerveer, women's basketball coach at Stanford University. The topics covered ranged from "A Report Card for the First 35 Years of Title IX" to "Gender Equity: How Do We Know When We're There?"

Following the day-long conference, the Aurora Forum presented "Title IX at 35: A Conversation with Billie Jean King" at Stanford's Maples Pavilion. This sports legend and social pioneer entertained and informed the crowd for two hours while answering questions from moderator LaDoris Cordell, Title IX Compliance Officer and Special Counselor to the President at Stanford. Billie Jean spoke about preparing for her match against Bobby Riggs, dubbed "The Battle of the Sexes." She also described her role in forming the women's professional tennis tour after being left out by the male players, including her close friends. She spoke on more personal issues, such as the pain of being "outed" by her former partner, losing all her sponsors overnight, and her struggle with binge eating. She explained that her philosophy of life is encompassed in World Team Tennis, where men and women are equal partners in striving to achieve a common goal.

For more information on the conference, please visit http://ethics.stanford.edu/titleixconference