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Title IX turns 50 years old in 2022 and Indiana University is marking the occasion with a history of the legislation and its impact. The piece features an interview with IU McKinney Professor Jennifer Drobac. Professor Drobac is an expert in this area of law.

“What is Title IX?” examines the origins of the legislation, the intent of which was to address sex discrimination and provide equal access to education and employment opportunities to women. IU alumnus and former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh is known as a Title IX sponsor and co-author. The legislation is administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

"Sex discrimination has been interpreted to include sex-based harassment, discrimination, unequal opportunity," Professor Drobac said in the piece. "Even if you're not completely banning someone from entering the school gates, but if you're making it really hard because they're subject to name calling, bullying on the basis of sex, sexual assault, or even just hostile behavior -- 'girls don't belong, girls aren't good at math and science' -- that's where all of this is going to apply."

Professor Drobac also was interviewed for a video associated with the project. In the video, she talks about the significant changes that have taken place since the law was passed in 1972. For example, the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Title IX included LGBTQ and transgender persons. Departments within different presidential administrations have interpreted this ruling differently, Professor Drobac said in the video.

In the video, Professor Drobac talked about a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that has nothing to do with Title IX but significantly impacts its application. “What they said was is that Title IX does not allow for compensatory damages that includes compensation for pain and suffering,” she said in the video. It’s important, Professor Drobac said, because damages are much harder to prove in the case of civil rights and dignitary harm.  

In addition, Professor Drobac talked with WTHR about Title IX's impact for a story that aired June 24.

Professor Drobac is a widely known expert in sexual harassment law. She is an author of the textbook, Sexual Harassment Law: History, Cases and Practice, recently published by Carolina Academic Press. She co-authored the book with Professor Carrie N. Baker of Smith College and Professor Rigel C. Oliveri of the University of Missouri School of Law.  Professor Drobac is at work on her next book, The Myth of Consent, which is under contract with Cambridge University Press. That work will explore the neuroscience of adult decision making and how the science should influence law reform, particularly the law of consent. She is a Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law.