50 YEARS OF TITLE IX

50 Years of Title IX: Celebrating Women’s Athletics at Rockford University

The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the monumental law that established gender equity and protection against sex or gender-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.

Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 13, 1972, the 37-word statute reads:

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. ”

While the law created numerous outcomes, the most visible was the effect it had on college athletics, since Title IX created equal opportunities for female athletes at the collegiate level.

Beginning as Rockford Female Seminary in 1847, Rockford University has a rich history of women’s athletics that predates Title IX. Sports and recreation truly began in the 1890s with the construction of Sill Hall on the Old Campus by Principal Martha Hillard. Outfitted with pulley weights, a rowing machine, Indian clubs, and dumb bells, the hall was the “first and finest gymnasium for women in higher education institutions west of the Alleghany Mountains.”

With the belief that recreation was an integral part of academic life, Hillard continued to add facilities over the years for basketball, fencing, volleyball, badminton, tennis, and swimming. Students also competed in inter-class competitive sports, such as field hockey, basketball, crew, and swimming.

Women’s sports continued at Rockford College on a separate basis while men’s sports officially began in 1956. After the passage of Title IX, women’s sports officially became a part of the college’s intercollegiate program. The first programs were field hockey, volleyball, and basketball.

Now, women’s athletics has expanded to six programs that compete in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) at the NCAA Division III level.

NICOLE EGGERS MARIAH MARTINEZ ’22

"Being a student-athlete is the definition of staying busy. Being given the opportunity to still continue playing the sport I love with other people who share the same passion along with getting an education is indescribable. The environment that the professors give us to be able to excel in the classroom and on the court is something that I appreciate more than they will know." "I have learned a lot as a student-athlete. Like never taking anything for granted, selfdiscipline, resiliency. It's ok to make a mistake, but it's all about how you handle it, and how you come back from the setback that will define you."

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