Blog Post

In December 2018, I filed a complaint against the University of Wisconsin-Stout with the Chicago office of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). My complaint alleges that UW-Stout’s single-sex, girl-only, no boys allowed Science, Technology, and Engineering Preview Summer (STEPS) for Girls Camp violates Title IX’s prohibition of sex discrimination. UW-Stout’s illegal and discriminatory STEPS program has been held annually every July since the program began in 1997 to encourage middle-school girls only [but not middle-school boys] to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the UW-Stout campus. Based on my complaint, the OCR opened an investigation of civil rights violations at UM-Stout on June 14, 2019, and as a result, the STEPS camp has been canceled for this summer, here’s the announcement on the program’s website:

We regret that because of an unforeseen circumstance, a decision has been made to put the Science, Technology, Engineering Preview Summer (STEPs) camp for girls on hiatus for this summer (2020) and possibly beyond. A challenge has been filed with the federal Office of Civil Rights due to the single-sex nature of the camp, leading to the decision to put STEPS on hold for summer 2020. If we are able to operate STEPS in summer 2021, it will be open to campers entering both the 7th and 8th grades.

In my opinion and based on recent OCR rulings, the only way UW-Stout could continue offering the STEPs summer camp in the future is if it converts the camp into a legitimate, co-ed program that is open to students of all gender identities. That change would also require UW-Stout to remove all references to “girls” in the program name, program description, and program eligibility requirements. Alternatively, the university could agree to introduce an equivalent, single-sex, boy-only program (e.g., the Science, Technology, Engineering Preview Summer (STEPs) summer camp for boys) that would fairly, legally and equitably accommodate the many middle-school boys in Wisconsin who are just as interested in learning more about STEM as their female counterparts. In other words, a co-ed program for all genders, or separate but equal programs for females and males; but not a discriminatory single-sex, girl-only program that illegally discriminates against boys based on their sex in violation of Title IX.

In addition to violating federal civil rights laws (Title IX), the STEPS program also violates UW-Stout’s Non-Discrimination Policy: “The University will not tolerate discrimination toward students on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, political affiliation, arrest or conviction record, veteran status, or any other prohibited basis defined by federal or state law or University of Wisconsin System policy.”

Ryan Patterson, a reporter with the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, has written the three news reports below on my successful Title IX complaint against UW-Stout (subscription required, unfortunately):

1. UW-Stout summer program put on hold (January 29, 2020)

2. Gender discrimination complaint against UW-Stout seeks remedy (February 8, 2020)

3. Man who filed complaint against UW-Stout has filed others (March 7, 2020)

Here are some excerpts (slightly edited) of Patterson’s last article, which was based on a telephone conversation we had last week: