2 - The Fix?

Summary

Chapter 2 traces how a piece of legislation, Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, became the primary vehicle for addressing campus sexual assault. Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. Although the legislation was intended to increase educational opportunities for women, it quickly became a means for increasing athletic opportunities, and then later a tool for combatting sexual violence. The chapter begins with a brief explanation of the administrative process before moving in chronological order through actions by the Department of Education and the courts. It then explains why even once sexual assault was recognized as a form of discrimination, it still took a long time to extend Title IX to peer assault.