With the 50th anniversary of Title IX coming up in June, the Cascade Collegiate Conference takes a look at how it has impacted those in the CCC.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Even though Title IX passed in 1972, it took a little while to actually see some of the changes in effect.
In fact, 20 years after it passed, Dr. Cynthia Pemberton read a publication about the legislation and first really learned about it. She realized the school she was at wasn’t in compliance and she decided she needed to do something about it.
“As I read it, I thought, ‘Hmm, as an athletic administrator, I need to be aware of this. I need to learn more,’” said Dr. Pemberton. “That was really what launched my personal, professional, and academic inquiry into understanding Title IX as it relates to intercollegiate athletics.”
Dr. Pemberton is now the President of Lewis-Clark State College, but when she was the Assistant Athletic Director at Linfield College, she wanted to take action into getting her school compliant with Title IX. She sent a note to her athletic director, the president and deans at her school with the intent to educate them on Title IX and work with them to come up with a plan of action.
What Dr. Pemberton didn’t know was that she was opening Pandora’s box as she began to learn more about Title IX and question how things were done at Linfield. She put together a full report of her findings, but it didn’t go over well.
“It was incredibly negative,” said Dr. Pemberton, who wrote about her battle in
More Than a Game: One Women’s Fight for Gender Equality in Sport. “It was very hostile. One of the things I wrote about in my book was that I was so surprised by people’s reactions. I actually believed that if I hadn’t known about Title IX – and I had been a student-athlete, a coach and now I was an administrator – and it had been 20 years, I figured other people would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, we weren’t aware either!’ and do the right thing but that is not at all what happened.”
For six years, Dr. Pemberton got backlash from the AD, lost friends and colleagues, was called a liar, had smear campaigns against her in local newspapers, and other intimidation tactics. People had a thought that she was out to destroy men’s sports, but she wanted to make sure there were equal opportunities for both men and women, like Title IX was intended for.
“People really wanted to lash out and crucify the messenger because they didn’t like the message,” said Dr. Pemberton. “It was incredibly challenging time. It was an isolating time, very painful. People were mean.”
It wasn’t until 2005 – over a decade later – that whistleblower protection laws were enforced regarding Title IX. Despite the lack of protection or support, Dr. Pemberton didn’t back down. As a former swim student-athlete, Dr. Pemberton credits her time in sports in preparing her for the battle.
“I do think my background in sports was a big important piece in enduring that time,” said Dr. Pemberton. “As a student-athlete, life is hard and complicated and there are a lot of pressures to endure. Sometimes you work hard and you still don’t get the goal you want so you learn how to be resilient and how to endure. I think those things helped me during this incredibly hard time.”
Still, Dr. Pemberton doesn’t regret going through the fight.
“The bottom line is I’ve always been the type of person that knows there’s right and there’s wrong and when you know the difference, you act on it,” said Dr. Pemberton. “It became very clear to me there was a line between what was right and what was wrong and that I was in a position to pursue what was right.”
Looking back, Dr. Pemberton believes she was the right person for the fight. She didn’t have children and could afford the risk.
“If I had been a single parent, I couldn’t have afforded to put my family at risk of me losing my job and that was what was at risk,” said Dr. Pemberton. “I no longer think everybody has to be a warrior for justice, though. Not everybody can. We need to be supportive and tolerant and acceptive in the fact that others are in different circumstances in their lives, so their options are different. But those who can, shining the light is one of the more powerful things that can happen.”