By Jacqueline McDowell

The NIRSA Collegiate Recreation Grant is awarded annually to faculty, staff, or graduate students interested in supporting NIRSA’s Research Agenda.

Last year’s grant was awarded to a research team comprised of me, Robyn Deterding, Terrence Elmore, Edward Morford, and Erin Morris from the University of Illinois.

The research team (from left to right): Edward Morford, Erin Norris, Jacqueline McDowell, Terry Elmore, and Robyn Deterding.

The five of us worked together on a project titled “Toward the Development of National Intramural and Club Sport Gender Equity Guidelines.” Given that Title IX regulations are limited in relation to information about club and intramural sports, this project assessed the applicability of current Title IX athletic guidance to these recreational sport programs—specifically related to the prevention of sex or gender discrimination. Title IX legislation explicitly identifies club and intramural sports as falling under it, but it fails to consider compliance differences between club and intramural sports and intercollegiate athletics.

Our team has written revised gender equity guidelines—which are currently open for comment—to help provide campus recreation departments with a more user-friendly and customized interpretation of Title IX compliance requirements. Once the open comment period ends, the finalized guidelines will be shared and available to campus recreation professionals through NIRSA.

As a part of this review process, during this open comment period there are different opportunities for feedback to be shared with the research team. The sample of NIRSA institutional member directors who were surveyed as a part of this project have received an advanced copy of the guidelines to comment on. Additionally, I’ve recorded a webinar that reviews the revised guidelines, and have sent the guidelines and relevant questions to the Office of Civil Rights for feedback.

The revised guidelines will be presented during a session at the 2015 NIRSA Annual Conference & Recreational Sports Expo, and will be available on the NIRSA website once finalized.

Dr. Jacqueline McDowell is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism at George Mason University. Her research focuses on diversity and inclusion in sport and recreation organizations, targeting identity issues and the structural, social, and psychological factors that impact the experiences and opportunities of underrepresented groups participating in and working in sport and recreation. She is interested in investigating and developing strategies and programs that can be implemented to remove barriers to participation; and her emerging research stream investigates the utility of lifetime sport programs in reducing health risk.