The Locker Room: Still an Issue
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels.
Rosa Martinez
Matt Brusky, Deputy Director, Citizen Action of WI, was consulted to assess the accuracy of Title IX information in this article.
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Over a year ago, an article titled “The Locker Room Issue” was published in the Charger Press regarding the disparity between the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, which sparked a lot of conversation in and outside of the school. I quickly became interested, as I have always been very active in playing and promoting female athletics. Around the time this article was published, I was involved in starting a new club at Hamilton–Amplify–a club that is designated to promote and support female athletics. As president of Amplify, I felt obligated to research more about the state of the locker rooms and learn more about what could be done.
In December of 2022, around a month after “The Locker Room Issue” was published, I had the opportunity to get a tour of all of the locker rooms, boys’ and girls’, led by Hamilton High School Principal, Mrs. Rebecca Newcomer. What I saw was truly shocking. I went in expecting the boys’ locker rooms to be nicer, but not to the extent that it is. I noticed the boys’ lockers were bigger, there were more benches, lights in better conditions, and overall larger rooms. I knew something had to be done to fix this.
At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, I participated in several meetings with the district’s superintendent, Dr. Mielke, to discuss what is currently being done to address the inequalities of the locker rooms. On October 23, when asked about how the school responded when the first article was published, Dr. Mielke responded saying, “As soon as we found out there were issues… those got all repaired immediately.” He stated, “One of the biggest concerns was the sizes of the lockers. [We] got some quotes for replacing the lockers.”
Dr. Mielke’s conclusion to solving the issues of disparity of the locker rooms was between two options. “Either one of two things is going to happen. Either [the referendum] is going to go through if the community says we support it; [however], if that doesn’t pass, then we’re going to look at replacing and updating new lockers.”
Part of my initial conversations with Dr. Mielke resulted in a walkthrough of the boys’ team and the girls’ team room on October 27. The boys’ team room had red lockers spread around the whole room, multiple benches, Hamilton Chargers text on the walls with team colors, and overall, a very spacious room. The girls’ team room has dull red lockers against the walls, four benches, no text or graphics on the walls, and is a smaller space. When walking through the locker rooms, Dr. Mielke asked me to point out specific areas that needed attention. The list I provided him with included the urinal in the girls’ team room, old and dirty carpet, dim lights that frequently flash, small, poor quality benches, dirty showers, a beige-ish paint job (the boys’ team room has red), and green and orange tile.
Following our tour of the locker rooms, Dr. Mielke responded by installing an updated sink, hand dryer, and mirror in the girls’ team room and removing the urinal. These updates were very much appreciated by girls’ athletics and provide a hopeful sign that more repairs and upgrades may be implemented. Even with these successful updates, many other inequities exist and it is still somewhat disappointing that it took a student to repetitively point out these issues for them to get fixed instead of them being resolved immediately or through regular building inspections.
In one of our interviews, Dr. Mielke was asked about the space being used for the ‘mudroom,’ a large underground locker room designated for boys’ sports that includes amenities such as large lockers, an ice machine, and water fountain, and also includes space for couches, a television, and pool table (items the teams and boys funded themselves). In regards to the fact that girls do not have comparable space large enough to even have these self-funded amenities, Dr. Mielke’s response was they “had architects look at that and they said the space is not within Title IX violation.”
When speaking with Dr. Mielke about the differences in locker room sizes, a large factor to consider is the male to female athlete ratio. It is understandable that boys’ football, which has such a large number of participating athletes, would need a larger space and lockers due to equipment and it is true that there is not a comparable girls’ sport with similar equipment; however, the vast differences in space and quality between the girls’ and boys’ spaces cannot be justified given the ratio of male to female athletes. Female athletes are not asking for the exact same space requirements as males; they are asking that the quality and spaces be equitable.
On January 5, I met with Mr. John Roubik, Hamilton’s Title IX Coordinator, to discuss Title IX regulations and what they can look like within a school. Every five years, our district completes a self analysis of policies and behavior and reports back to the state to ensure there is no discrimination. Mr. Roubik reported that Hamilton is continually making improvements to facilities to better accommodate the interests of students. However, during our conversation, he didn’t discount the possibility of a Title IX violation with the locker rooms.
I followed up with Mr. Roubik for dimensions of the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms. The estimates (not exact figures), provided by the Hamilton Building and Grounds Director Jeff Grove, include the office, shower, and storage space in each of these facilities, in addition to the actual student areas.
Boys’ Mudroom (basement) 3550 square feet
Boys’ Locker room A (main gym) 2250 square feet
Boys’ Locker room B (auxiliary gym) 3290 square feet
Girls’ Team Room (main gym) 950 square feet
Girls’ Locker room A (main gym) 2780 square feet
Girls’ Locker room B (auxiliary gym) 2315 square feet
This shows an estimated 3,045 square feet disparity between the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms.
Unfortunately, due to low community support in the district surveys about the referendum, it was revealed that asking the community for any athletic or locker room updates was removed from the April 2 school referendum, so the community did not vote on this, meaning that no funds from the successfully-passed referendum will be used to update any locker rooms. After learning that the referendum would no longer be an option for funding (as earlier indicated in our October 23 interview), I followed up with Dr. Mielke on February 22 to determine what the current plan is to remedy the inequity. He responded, “It is our intention to update current locker room spaces this summer.”
Title IX is an extensive civil rights law that touches on any area of sex-based discrimination in schools receiving federal government funding. Due to this, it has made it difficult for Title IX coordinators and schools to directly understand what falls within a violation and what doesn’t. Following my meeting with Mr. Roubik, armed with all of my data about the square footage and observations from tours of the locker rooms, I believe that we may have a serious Title IX violation within our school.
Further action needs to be taken to address and resolve these issues, and it shouldn’t take the advocacy of singular students writing Charger Press articles to inspire action from the Hamilton district. While it is hopeful that the locker rooms will be updated this summer, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure our school is acting in accordance with Title IX.
