Nichols College joins the National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) in celebrating 50 years of Title IX.
History of Title IX
This June marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX being passed into American law and helping create gender equality in sport. Before Title IX, women were overlooked in sports and were not nearly as supported as male athletes were. Title IX aimed to change this narrative and states that no one in the United States will be excluded from programs or denied the proper benefits for programs "on the basis of sex."
"I was born one year prior to the landmark law going into effect, so I have literally grown up with this landmark law," said Nichols College Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Women Administrator Kristan Mallet. "I have had amazing female role models in sport that paved the way for me, women who did not have the same opportunities afforded to me. Being able to grow up with the opportunity to play sports without many limitations and be supported makes me feel fortunate and extremely thankful. It is truly amazing to see how the landscape has changed over 50-plus years in availability to just play, uniforms, rule changes, facilities, methods of travel, scholarships, overall funding, etc."
Nichols College currently offers 10 varsity sports for women as well as cheerleading and esports, both of which are co-ed. The women's tennis program has captured five Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championships (2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) and the women's soccer team owns a pair of CCC Championships (1996, 2002) as well as a Northeast Women's Athletic Conference crown (1994). The 2009 field hockey team won the CCC Championship and became the first female program at NC to host an NCAA Tournament contest when MIT visited Dudley on November 11, 2009.
The Bison field hockey and softball programs captured Northeast Women's Athletic Conference titles during the 1993-94 school year while the women's basketball program has won three Massachusetts Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) championships (1981-82, 1982-83, 1989-90). Softball won MAIAW championships in 1988, 1991 and 1992. The 1991 softball program, 2002 women's soccer team, and the 2009 field hockey team have all been inducted into the Nichols College Athletics Hall of Honor.
"Title IX has helped create wonderful opportunities for me as a player, coach, and now as an administrator," added Mallet, who was the head coach of the 2009 field hockey program at NC. "My son will grow up understanding the effect the law has also had on his life. He is growing up in the athletics community here at Nichols College, and there is no better place to raise a child. I thank every single person that paved the way and continue to support girls and women is sport. Moving the needle for equal pay-to-play, coach, and administrate is a battle that needs to continue to move forward. With the hard work of the past pioneers, there would be no conversation, and now it is upon the present influencers to continue to advocate for their future."
Since 2000, Nichols College has won 10 conference Player of the Year awards, 15 Rookie of the Year awards, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and produced six Scholar-Athlete of the Year award recipients. In 2008-09, NC Hall of Famer MaryLynn Skarzenski was named The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year. On three other occasions, first-year student-athletes Anna Dyakiv (2010-11), Amarie Settiwongse (2016-17), and Antonia Carrero (2021-22) received both CCC Women's Tennis Player and Rookie of the Year honors.
Longtime Nichols College Director of Athletics Charlie Robert - a member of both the Nichols College and SUNY Cortland Athletics Hall of Fame - took women's athletics to another level during her tenure in the athletic department from 1998 to 2015. Along with coaching field hockey, softball, and women's lacrosse, Robert was instrumental in bringing the 2011 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship to Nichols, where TCNJ defeated Middlebury 3-1 at Vendetti Field to win the National Championship. "Title IX equals opportunities and a key to opening doors which I am very appreciate of," said Robert. "The anniversary is a friendly reminder to continue to increase and move the number of opportunities! Fortunately, Nichols has been focused on building and growing our campus community to empower women and their leadership. It has not just been about meeting the standard percentage."
Current field hockey coach Laura-Ann Lane said, "The passing of Title IX 50 years ago is one of the most - if not the most - powerful pieces of legislation in support of women and girls in athletics. I was a three-sport athlete in high school and two-sport in college, and have had the opportunity to coach for over 30 years, so Title IX has 100 percent impacted my life. We have come a long way and the journey is far from over as we still have a long way to go towards equality. It is my honor to carry on the fight that Dr. Christine Grant championed both at Iowa and nationally, and will pass the torch along to the women I coach and the assistants and GA's that will share the sidelines with me."
Original source can be found here.
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