Before Title IX of the Education Amendment was signed in 1972, there were roughly 310,000 women and girls playing sports in colleges and high schools throughout the nation. Fifty years later, thanks to the law, there are currently over three million women and girls playing interscholastic sports today, a number that continues to grow each year. The IndyBar Sports & Entertainment Law Section in July, A Celebration of 50 Years of Title IX: Then, Now, and What’s Next.
We heard from an esteemed panel of female speakers about the impact of Title IX in women’s sports and what this group of experts believes is next for Title IX in the ever-evolving world of scholastic and collegiate athletics. If you missed it, learn more about the speakers below.
Meet the Speakers
Janet Judge is a higher education and employment law partner at the Education & Sports Law Group, LLC and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2019 and 2022 Sports Law Lawyer of the Year for the Boston area from Best Lawyers in America. She has more than thirty years of experience in higher education, intercollegiate sports, and labor and employment law. Janet has advised numerous collegiate institutions on Title IX. Her vast legal experience and countless sports law endeavors make her one of the most respected and experienced sports law commentators and practitioners. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the Boston University School of Law.
Julie Roe Lach is the Commissioner of the Horizon League, an NCAA Division I conference headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. She previously worked at the NCAA and currently also serves as Of Counsel with Church Church Hittle + Antrim, where she co-founded their collegiate sports law practice. She is a former collegiate athlete at Millikin University, a graduate of the Indiana McKinney School of Law, which recently recognized her as the Alumna of the Year. She serves on the Board of Visitors for the law school and on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Sports Corp.
Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow holds a law degree from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University where she became the first African American woman to make law journal, and MEd and BS degrees from Ohio University. After law school, she became the first African American woman to clerk for an Indiana Supreme Court justice under Justice Brent Dickson. Currently, she serves at the Faculty Chair of the Undergraduate Program the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University-Indianapolis. Charlotte has spent her career in higher education. From 2010-2012, she served as Interim President at Martin University and from 2005-2010 as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at the NCAA. In her capacity as Assistant to the President at the University of Iowa, she also served as the institution’s Title IX Coordinator and has served as a Title IX Coordinator for University of Wisconsin, Parkside and Purdue University.
Kelleigh Fagan is moderating this panel and is a partner and co-founder of Church Church Hittle + Antrim’s collegiate sports law practice. She advises clients on matters of NCAA rules compliance and represents them through the NCAA infractions process; advises institutions on Title IX and serves as an external investigator for Title IX investigations. She has her law degree from the Indiana McKinney School of Law and was a collegiate athlete at the University of Indianapolis.
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