When one works on Capitol Hill in Washington, she/he never knows what will be on their platter when arriving at the office. As a legislative assistant for U.S. Rep. William D. Ford (D-Michigan) and the House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, I was assigned to follow Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This was January 1977, and Title IX was the focus of much public discourse and mired in the federal regulatory process in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s Office of Education.
For the uninitiated, which by now are few, Title IX was an amendment to the federal Higher Education Act. The intent of Title IX is to eliminate, or in reality to minimize, sexism in education – in academics and in sports – so that girls and young women could take classes in shop, welding, mechanics, or whatever, and also have access to and play in competitive athletics in K-12 and postsecondary education.
As the regulations emerged, there were flurries of phone calls and letters to Congressman Ford and the subcommittee, so much so that a great portion of my day was spent taking and returning phone calls from congressional offices, and occasionally outside, as our subcommittee had jurisdiction over Title IX and the Higher Education Act. I actually saved the messages, acquiring quite a stack, inches high.
One day I was told to meet Chairman Ford in Room 100 of the U.S. Capitol. I arrived a few minutes before the appointed time, as was wise to do, since I was informed of the nature of the meeting. When I arrived, two young women were poised at the doorway. They took one look at me and pronounced, “You can’t come in here.” I replied in an oft-used response on the Hill: “The Chairman told me to meet him here.” They reluctantly let me in, and I perched myself along the edge of the U-shaped table toward the front so that I could hear the discussion.
The major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences had requested – no doubt demanded – that the senior members of the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Labor meet with their leadership. Their goal was to eliminate Title IX, because they were convinced it would be the ruination of college sports, particularly football.
They made their arguments, and the members listened politely, as I sat there mesmerized. When they were done with their spiel, the congressmen and senators – all men – offered similar responses: “No, we cannot do that. It has not had enough time to be implemented and incorporated in the system.” And who were these members, you ask? Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-Rhode Island), Sen. Jacob Javits (R-New York) Rep. Car D. Perkins (D-Kentucky), Rep. Gus Hawkins (D-California), Rep. Frank Thompson (D-New Jersey), and Mr. Ford from Michigan. There was not one elected woman at the table, and I believe I was the only woman in the room.
The athletic conference leaders dejectedly left the room, clearly taken aback and upset with the unanimous response of the House and Senate leaders.
As a Michigan State University (MSU) alumna, I recognized Wayne Duke, who at that time led the Big Ten Conference. As custom and politics would suggest, I approached Mr. Duke, and proudly said I was an MSU alum and put out my hand to shake his. He did not put out his, but rather grunted, turned on his heel and walked away. So much for good manners in leadership. In all honesty, MSU had been sanctioned by him.
Nonetheless, he could have established a good reliable contact for the future.
As background, and interestingly, then U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Massachusetts) had more colleges and universities in his district than any other member of Congress. He was a close ally of Ford’s. In fact, prior to the meeting described above, Ford had had a meeting with O’Neill to discuss Title IX. I somehow found out about it. I was genuinely surprised and a bit distressed that I was not invited given the ongoing work I was doing, consulting with the Office of Education and answering a myriad of phone calls. I requested a meeting with Ford and politely questioned why I was not invited given the work I was doing. Ford sat straight up in his chair behind the big desk, and forthrightly told me in a somewhat brusque manner that he made the political decisions in the office, and I had to live with and abide by them. It was not the answer I wanted or expected. I responded, “Oh, I see,” and popped out of my chair. As I departed the office, in the Rayburn House Office Building, the door slammed behind me. I sincerely did not intend it to – really – but those doors are heavy.
A few days later, I was in a group of colleagues and friends in the National Democratic Club with Ford. We ended up at one point being alone. He looked me in the eye, and said, “You know that issue you came to talk to me about the other day – Title IX?” “Yes,” I replied. “You were right,” he said affirmatively. From that point forward, I experienced a different, more solid relationship with him. One of trust, give and take, and respect. He was a man of great stature albeit 5’4” – well read, caring, tenacious, and with an incredible memory and observational skills. I was honored and proud to work with and for him and the constituents of what was then Michigan’s 15th Congressional District.