1976 Yale Women Stoke Title IX Debate

Did you know that Title IX – ground-breaking legislation passed on June 23, 1972, seeking to provide American women equal educational opportunities – gained traction in the athletic arena because of the actions of the women’s rowing program at Yale University?

In 1976, Yale University had been a coed institution for just seven years. Women’s athletics were deemed a curiosity and treated as intramural programs, even the women's crew that included senior Christine Ernst and junior Anne Warner, who had found success as members of the Red Rose Crew, the surprising silver-medal eight at the 1975 World Championships. The women’s crew, though practicing on the same stretch of the Housatonic River as the men’s program, was provided with antiquated equipment and endured a frustrating school policy that forced the women to sit on a bus, cold and wet after practices, while the men’s squad got access to the locker rooms.

Nineteen women from that 1976 crew chose to protest the unfair conditions, stripping bare in front of Joni Barnett, Yale’s director of physical education, revealing “Title IX” scrawled on their bodies. 

“These are the bodies Yale is exploiting. We have come here today to make clear how unprotected we are ... We are not just healthy young things in blue and white uniforms who perform feats of strength for Yale in the nice spring weather; we are not just statistics on your win column. We’re human and being treated as less than such.”

Their “Declaration of Accountability” drew massive, national attention to the issue, and by the following rowing season, a women’s locker room was added to the boathouse.

After leading the protest, oarswoman Chris Ernst remained vocal on issues of women in sports. She was known to be uncompromising, and an outspoken competitor. Her impact was later documented in the 1999 film "A Hero for Daisy," (watch the trailer) which traces her career as a rower at Yale, a national team member, World Champion, and Olympian. In addition to highlighting Ernst's rowing success and her willingness to rock the boat, "A Hero for Daisy" shines a light on sobering statistics about women and girls' participation in sports.

These days, when Jennie Kiesling, class of '78, visits Yale's Gilder Boathouse, she's impressed by the stunning facilities. But even more impressive to her "is the change in the women rowers themselves," she told ESPN in 2012. "When we rowed crew, we didn't quite know how to balance being jocks and women at the same time. Now I see these women who are comfortable in both their femininity and their athleticism."