Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

Why Has Title IX Become So Controversial?

Wed, March 27, 2019
Lunch Program
R. Shep Melnick

The original purpose of Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments was to eliminate institutional barriers to educational opportunity for women and girls.  As the doors of opportunity swung open, female students rushed through, outperforming their male counterparts at nearly all educational levels. Yet today Title IX rules—especially those on sexual harassment and transgender rights—are more controversial than ever. That is because federal regulation under Title IX has morphed into a far more ambitious effort to counteract gender stereotypes held by all of us—students, faculty, and the public at large. Shep Melnick, professor of American Politics at Boston College, will describe how this change took place and why it has often produced perverse results.

R. Shep Melnick is the Tip O’Neill Professor of American Politics at Boston College and co-chair of the Harvard Program on Constitutional Government.  He is the author most recently of “The Transformation of Title IX:  Regulating Gender Equality in Education” (Brookings, 2018). His research has focused on the intersection of law, politics, and public policy. His previous books includes “Regulation and the Courts:  The Case of the Clean Air Act” (Brookings, 1983) and “Between the Lines:  Interpreting Welfare Rights” (Brookings, 1994), which won the 2012 “Lasting Contribution” award from the American Political Science Association’s Law and Courts section. Before joining the political science department at Boston College, Melnick taught at Brandeis and Harvard. He has served as president of the New England Political Science Association and as an elected member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He received both is BA and Ph.D. from Harvard.

Professor Melnick will deliver the Salvatori Center's Lofgren Lecture on American Constitutionalism. 

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
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