The outcry was fierce and nearly universal. Women's basketball teams arriving on site in San Antonio to compete for the 2021 NCAA Division I title were appalled at the so called "strength facilities" available to them as compared to the men,--a few yoga mats and dumbbells. The NCAA site management staff quickly responded and attempted to correct the obvious error, but by then, the floodgates opened on further inequities --food availability, a lack of custom floors dedicated to the tournament, and the most galling--a lack of transparency around whether women can use the trademarked phrase "March Madness" to describe their 3 week tournament.

My guest today is Valerie Bonnette. She is one of the leading experts in Title IX compliance in the United States. After spending 15 years in the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, she launched her company Title IX Specialists in the 1990s. While at OCR, she conducted federal investigations of complaints alleging sex discrimination in athletics programs, provided technical assistance to national and regional athletics organizations, and provided on-site technical assistance to individual institutions. Just last month, she released her most recent edition of her well-regarded handbook “The 2020 (Updated) Manual – “Title IX and Intercollegiate Athletics:  How It All Works – In Plain English” .