Senator Kennedy: A Champion for Education

by Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel, 
and Dina Lassow, Senior Counsel, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Along with others across the world, we mourn the passing of a legend today.  Senator Kennedy championed many causes, including the right to equal educational opportunities for all, regardless of race, sex, family income, language barriers, or disability.  One of his causes that is particularly near and dear to our hearts is Title IX. 

In addition to being a key supporter for passage of Title IX, Senator Kennedy led the fight to ensure that the reach of the law was as broad as originally intended.  In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled in Grove City College v. Bell that Title IX’s protection against discrimination was limited to the specific programs within a school that received federal funds.  This decision had devastating consequences because it meant that athletics programs, for example, would not be covered unless they received federal funds, which they typically did not.  It also meant that students were only protected against sexual harassment if the harassment took place in a dormitory or classroom that happened to have been built with federal aid – not one across the street.  Senator Kennedy came to the rescue and was the leading author of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988, which overturned the Supreme Court’s Grove City decision and required recipients of federal funds to comply with civil rights laws in all areas, not just in a particular program or activity that receives federal funding.

More recently, Senator Kennedy continued to defend Title IX when critics sought to weaken its protections against sex discrimination in athletics.  He recognized the dramatic increase in the number of girls and women playing high school and college sports since the passage of the law, but he also emphasized that inequities still exist.  As he stated in 2003, “To overcome these remaining disparities, enforcement of Title IX needs to be stronger in the future, not weaker. The last thing Title IX needs is a premature declaration of victory.”  We will sorely miss his leadership on behalf of women and girls in education, but we know that his legacy will endure.