For those who follow college sports, a woman playing on a man’s team is not completely unusual but not something you hear about every day either. On March 17, 2023, first year walk-on Olivia Pichardo became the first woman to play in an NCAA Division I baseball game. Interestingly enough, Title IX has something called the contact sports exemption that a school can invoke to keep a woman from playing on some men’s teams, such as baseball. In this episode, we learn more about the contact sports exemption, how Title IX is on a collision course with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment when it comes to athletes competing on mixed sex teams, and whether the contact sports exemption should still exist in the 21st century.

Co-Hosts: Jeremy Goldstein (SPME ‘23); Max Adams (SPME ‘23); Isaiah Couzer (Ex ‘25); Dr. Ellen J. Staurowsky

Guest: Dr. Sarah Fields (University of Colorado at Denver and author of Female Gladiators: Gender, Law, and Contact Sport in America)

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An Ithaca College Park School of Communications and High Tops Media Podcast

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