Fraternal Relevance of TItle IX

June 23rd, 1972. For most of you who will read this blog entry, this date has little relevance to you. I’d presume most of you weren’t even born. Yet, this date has significant relevance because this was the day Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 became law.

What is Title IX? Title IX protects people from the discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. What does that mean for you? It means 40 years ago; Title IX paved the way for women not to be discriminated against with regard to education, opportunity, or rights.

While most people relate Title IX to athletics, it is important to understand the implications of Title IX in the fraternal world. The law does exclude specific groups including most private school institutions, groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and fraternity and sorority organizations. This exemption comes from the belief that fraternity and sorority organizations work because they are single-sex and there is an equal opportunity for both sexes to join their respective organization.

Yet, Greek communities allowing unnecessary and borderline inappropriate interaction between fraternities and sororities have put our single-gendered status in jeopardy. Inappropriate activities such as having sorority women as honorary members of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) or “little sisters” having voting rights during recruitment have jeopardized the sanctity of our membership.

To combat these activities and protect our single-gendered status, the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) and the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) have both re-affirmed their stance on this issue. The NIC has a specific resolution that can be found here that outlines their position. In addition, the NPC passed a resolution (found here) in November 2011 re-affirming their stance on being women’s-only private social organizations.

So why is this important? Without the Title IX exemption, membership in fraternities and sororities could drastically change. Men could theoretically join a sorority and women could join a fraternity. Think it can’t happen? Check out this recent lawsuit here. Or, for my readers with a legal mindset, check out this old Fraternal Law edition here. Image voting on a woman and a group of men opposing. Imagine men’s recruitment being conducted by women. Weird right?

While those are extreme examples, it is important to embrace our single-gender membership.
You should be proud of the benefits you are offered as a single-gender organization and take a moment to reflect on the individuals who made Title IX a reality 40 years ago. I believe in keeping social fraternity only men and social sorority only women. I hope you will to.