Table Of ContentTitle IX and the Protection of Pregnant
and Parenting College Students
This book explores the discrepancies among what protections Title IX
provides to pregnant and parenting students, what colleges communi-
cate, and what pregnant and parenting students actually experience. To
actually protect pregnant and parenting students, the authors argue that
a school must provide multifaceted support that is effectively communi-
cated to an entire campus community, including students who are parent-
ing, who are pregnant, and who may become pregnant.
The first part of the book portrays the realities of pregnancy and par-
enting in college. The chapters illuminate related Title IX applications,
population demographics, how unplanned pregnancies in college occur,
and physical and mental health challenges that these students often expe-
rience. The authors then discuss what compliance with Title IX legally
entails and why meeting it is often an afterthought. In the second half of
the book, the authors use mixed-methods research to map the compli-
ance landscapes of three schools in the southeast as examples: a large
state school, a mid-size private university, and a small private college.
Offering eye-opening interviews with pregnant and parenting students,
interdisciplinary research, and proposals for multifaceted support and com-
munication on college campuses, this volume will engage students, scholars,
and activists with an interest in higher education administration, educa-
tional policy, reproductive health, bioethics, gender studies, and rhetoric.
Catherine L. Riley is a Part-Time Assistant Professor of Communication
at Wake Forest University, USA. This is her first book. It was written
while parenting two young children, suffering a miscarriage, and then
having and caring for another child.
Alexis Hutchinson is a law student at the University of Florida, Levin
College of Law, USA. This is her first academic publication. She admires
students who balance classes, work, career plans, and the complexities of
pregnancy and parenting.
Carley Dix is an Equity Compliance Administrator and Title IX
Coordinator at Davidson College, USA. This is her first book, written
while she was pregnant with and then parenting her first child.
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Effective Practice, Policy, and Training
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Transitions, Liminality, Performativity
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Edited by Genine Hook, Marie-Pierre Moreau, and Rachel Brooks
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in Higher Education
Through a glass darkly
Amanda French
For more information about this series, please visit:
www.routledge.com/Routledge-Research-in-Higher-Education/book-
series/RRHE
Title IX and the Protection of
Pregnant and Parenting
College Students
Realities and Challenges
Catherine L. Riley, Alexis Hutchinson,
and Carley Dix
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2022 Catherine L. Riley, Alexis Hutchinson, and Carley Dix
The right of Catherine L. Riley, Alexis Hutchinson, and Carley
Dix to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by
them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-74975-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-75824-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-16415-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003164159
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
For all pregnant and parenting college students,
past, present, and future
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.
—Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
20 U.S Code § 1681
Brief Contents
List of Illustrations xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
PART 1
Context: The Realities of Pregnancy and Parenting
in College 1
1 Introduction to Title IX as It Relates to Pregnancy 3
2 “Pregnant Students? We Don’t Have Those Here”:
Seeing the Pregnant and Parenting Student Population 35
3 “How Could This Happen?”: Identifying Students’
Knowledge Gaps and Limited Communication about
Pregnancy 63
4 “There’s Nothing Else We Can Do for You”:
Acknowledging the Physical Challenges Surrounding
Pregnancy 99
5 My Dream School Became “Draining”: Recognizing
the Mental Challenges Surrounding Pregnancy 123
6 “I Even Wondered, What Are My Rights?”: Title IX
Compliance and Why It Is Often an Afterthought 142
viii Brief Contents
PART 2
Introduction to the Case Studies 165
7 Silent Incompliance at a Mid-Size Private University 169
8 Hospitality as Compliance at a Small Private College 191
9 Structural Support and Insufficiencies at a Large
State School 210
10 Complying with Title IX Means Making Schools
Supportive Spaces 233
Bibliography 269
Index 294
Contents
List of Illustrations xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
PART 1
Context: The Realities of Pregnancy and Parenting in College 1
1 Introduction to Title IX as It Relates to Pregnancy 3
The Evolution of Title IX 6
Preceding Laws 6
Title IX Beginnings and Passage 7
Title IX Compliance and Enforcement 8
Hierarchy of Law 8
Regulations 9
Case Law Precedents 10
Where Does Pregnancy and Parenting Factor In? 11
Legislative History 11
Regulations 12
Guidance 12
Review of Pregnancy and Parenting Case Law 13
High School and National Honor Society 14
Undergraduate Student Cases 16
Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Settlements 20
Undergraduate Athletics and Pregnancy 22
Graduate Student Cases 24
Evaluating How Schools Respond to Title IX 27
Preview of Chapters 28
Notes 30
2 “Pregnant Students? We Don’t Have Those Here”: Seeing the
Pregnant and Parenting Student Population 35
Why Pregnant and Parenting Students Are Unseen
and Unheard 36
The Presence of Pregnant Students 41
