The Education Amendments Act of 1972 made updates to several previous pieces of legislation, including the Higher Education Act of 1965. Manifested as Public Law 92-318, it had several sections. They included verbiage dedicated to student loans, the work-study program, insurance, loans for building school facilities, and a lot more.

President Richard Nixon’s signing statement indicated, “This legislation includes comprehensive higher education provisions, authority for a new effort to revitalize our educational research effort, and authority to provide financial assistance to school districts to meet special problems incident to desegregation.” But he didn’t mention what ended up being the most memorable part of the law.

Title VIII, immediately before Title IX, addressed transportation of students. Title X dealt with certain federal education payments. Between those, Title IX started off with this verbiage (which Ashlyn Miller reads on camera in RHG):

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . .”

Patsy Mink had pushed the legislation in the House of Representatives while Birch Bayh had sponsored it in the Senate. While President Nixon seemed more interested in education-related issues involving busing, these congresspeople wanted to ensure women got the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts. In RHG, women like Chris Plonsky, Diane Henson, and Jody Conradt explain how enforcement of Title IX created opportunities through its impact on education and athletics.