Please enter a search term.

Please enter a search term.

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – June 23 marked the 50-year anniversary of the passing of Title IX. It gives equal opportunities to everyone regardless of their sex in educational institutions.

East Carolina University is now looking back at its history after Title IX was signed into law.

“It has made a drastic impact,” said Patrick Cash, an ECU assistant university archivist. “The university began figuring out what exactly was going to have to change on our campus to fix things.”

Most people think of Title IX impacting women’s sports.

Biden administration proposes extending Title IX protections to transgender students

Q&A: Billie Jean King on Title IX’s 50th anniversary

Title IX: NCAA report shows stark gap in funding for women

EXPLAINER: What is Title IX and what impact has it had?

“It made a huge impact on women’s athletics, but it was much broader than that,” Cash said. “It impacted athletics, educational opportunities, financial aid, housing on college campuses.”

ECU is doing research looking at archived documents on how Title IX did impact all aspects of student living.

“One of the most unique changes we found is if you were a female student who married an out-of-state male student, your residence became your husband’s residency,” Cash said. “If you look at the early dorm rules. They were much stricter for female students than they were male students with more signing in and out.

“If you were a female student and going across campus to the swimming pool, you were required to cover up with a rain jacket as you were going across campus. You had to have an escort if you were going off campus and you had to wear a hat and gloves if you were going downtown.”

The university has all this history, as well as a grievance letter signed in 1978 by female athletes that changed the landscape of ECU athletics. All this history will be on display in a Title IX exhibit in September.

“Being able to read that grievance and another case where students were able to take it upon themselves to change things for the better,” Cash said. “Any time you can highlight that, it gets the message across that our student body has a strong powerful voice.”

Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.