Title IX & Athletics

Title IX of the 1972 Education Act states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Educational programs or activities includes Intercollegiate Athletics and Title IX gives colleges and schools options for demonstrating that they provide equitable opportunities to both sexes. UCI demonstrates equitable opportunities through intercollegiate level participation opportunities for male and female students in numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.

UCI Title IX Athletics Advisory Committee

The committee serves as an advisory and review body with responsibility for ensuring that the University’s Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) program is in compliance with Title IX. Specifically, the committee is tasked with a regular Title IX compliance review process, which includes reviewing the Gender Equity Plan and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act submission, monitoring Title IX compliance and the culture within Athletics related to Title IX, implementing NCAA guidance related to Title IX such as NCAA Board of Governor’s Policy on Campus Sexual Violence and related training, proposing and implementing a Title IX education program for coaches and staff related to gender equity and sexual violence sexual harassment issues, and consultation and appeal requests under the UCI Policy on Transgender and Nonbinary Student-Athlete Participation.

UCI Title IX Athletics Advisory Committee

  • Tierney Anderson, Title IX Officer (Co-Chair)
  • Erica Monteabaro, Senior Associate Athletic Director and SWA (Co-Chair)
  • Andrea Gunn Eaton, Chief Campus Counsel
  • Lars Walton, Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor
  • Tawny Luu, Director of Compliance
  • Ashley Letrich, Assistant Athletic Director, Compliance
  • Cassie Beucherie, Senior Investigator, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD)

Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act

The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) requires co-educational institutions of postsecondary education that participate in a Title IV, federal student financial assistance program, and have an intercollegiate athletic program, to prepare an annual report to the Department of Education on athletic participation, staffing, and revenues and expenses, by men's and women's teams. 

Equity in athletics data is available at:  http://ope.ed.gov/athletics. Hard copies of the report are also available upon request by contacting oeod@uci.edu.

NCAA Board of Governors Policy on Campus Sexual Violence

The NCAA Board of Governors passed the NCAA Policy on Campus Sexual Violence (NCAA policy) in August 2017 (updated in 2018 and revised in 2020 and 2021). Beginning in the 2017-18 academic year, NCAA schools, including UCI, have attested their compliance with NCAA Policy attestation items 1-3. The NCAA Policy stated that attestation items 4-6 required attestation beginning with the 2022-2023 academic year.

In spring 2022, OEOD and ICA partnered to develop and implement the NCAA Policy attestation items 4-6. OEOD assisted in developing the UC Framework for Compliance with NCAA Policy on Campus Sexual Violence, issued April 2022. OEOD and ICA also developed a   UCI Protocol for Implementation , issued July 2022, and established a review committee for applicable matters.

 

UCI Policy on Transgender and Nonbinary Student-Athlete Participation

UCI Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in consideration of all individuals and groups it serves and strives to provide safety, privacy, and dignity of transgender and nonbinary student-athletes, as well as their teammates, while preserving the integrity of competition. UCI ICA has a Policy on Transgender and Nonbinary Student-Athlete Participation to ensure transgender and nonbinary gender student-athletes’ fair, respectful, and legal access to participation on intercollegiate athletics teams at UCI. This policy was created based on the University’s nondiscrimination policy, as well as state and federal laws regarding the protection of students from discrimination based on sex, gender identity and gender expression; NCAA guiding principles on participation of transgender student-athletes in intercollegiate athletics; and the  NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes Resource Guide.

UCI NCAA Equity Reviews

“An athletics program can be considered gender equitable when the participants in both the men's and women's sports programs would accept as fair and equitable the overall program of the other gender. No individual should be discriminated against on the basis of gender, institutionally or nationally, in intercollegiate athletics.”  - NCAA Gender Equity Task Force, 1992

Recent requirements include that member institutions shall complete a gender equity review at least every four years. UCI’s gender equity review is in progress. Additionally, Fall 2022 NCAA guidance requires institutions complete an initial diversity, equity, and inclusion review by November 3, 2023. This review is also in progress. For inquires related to UCI’s Reviews, contact Title IX Officer Tierney Anderson or Senior Associate Athletic Director and SWA, Erica Monteabaro.