It strikes me that my two posts below about the NYT article about Title IX don't at all resemble the bulk of my postings of recent months, but resemble very well the original kinds of postings I made on this blog. I've moved on with my life, and statistical studies of gender equity issues in the sciences aren't really a part of my life these days (they formed the core of many of the flagship postings on this blog). For the most part I happily putter through life these days, doing historic house rehab, knitting, walking my dogs, doing baseball statistical data analysis, and working on getting my teaching license.
The one issue that still gets me fired up though is Title IX compliance in the sciences. Why? Because my complaint under Title IX to the Department of Energy regarding egregious discriminatory crap going on at Fermilab is still "pending" after over two years (read: still being "ignored"). The complaint is easily the single most statistically well documented complaint the Department of Energy has ever received. And yet they still refuse to investigate.
Just this past week, before I heard about the NYT article, I was sitting having a good think about what I was going to do about the brazen non-compliance of the Department of Energy with even the most basic aspects of Title IX (they were supposed to get back to me three months ago with a decision as to whether or not they would deign to investigate my complaint). What options are left to me to force them to investigate? Well, I can try kicking the complaint back up to the Department of Justice (I tried this last year, and the Department of Justice kicked it back down to the Department of Energy Office of Civil Rights, who have continued to ignore it ever since despite being repeatedly contacted by me). If I complain back up to the Department of Justice, I will contact some friends I have in Washington to see if they have some thoughts as to exactly to whom I should complain for best results.
Or, I can file a federal lawsuit against the DoE under Title IX seeking injunctive relief (ie; a lawsuit that would seek to force them to comply with Title IX and investigate the complaint). Following this complaint through to fruition is probably the single most lasting mark I will leave on particle physics that will ultimately hopefully result in the field being better for my daughters and yours. Thus, if I have to, I will consider the lawsuit route. There is a Title IX advocacy group that I have worked closely with in the past that would likely help with that at some level.
So, while I was pondering this week over the frustrating logistics that must be overcome to see the complaint to the DoE successfully dealt with, suddenly the NYT article came out poo-poo'ing Title IX compliance in the sciences as some kind evil that is being forced on society. And then right-wing nut jobs took my words in response to that article and used them as an example of how "dangerous" someone like me can be towards their publicity effort to make sure that science academia remains Title IX non-compliant.
This unfortunate confluence in timing (or serendipitous confluence?) has me revisiting the old Absinthe this week...
