University of Michigan. Institute for Research on Women and Gender

Research project on the 1970 investigation of a sex discrimination complaint against the University of Michigan conducted by the U.S. Department of Health, Educaiton, and Welfare. Project was sponsored by the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender and conducted by Eric A. Stein.

In 1970 the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) launched an investigation of the University of Michigan after Ann Arbor lawyer Jean King and the group FOCUS on Equal Employment for Women (a group founded by King to address issues of sex discrimination at the university) filed a complaint against the university with the Department of Labor. The complaint prompted hearings and resulted in a 1300 page report. Ultimately it led to amendments to Title VII legislation and contributed to Title IX in 1972.

In 2001 the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender's (IRWG) sponsored a research project to study the 1970 HEW investigation of sex discrimination at the University of Michigan. The project report was published in 2002 as IRWG working paper number 63, Women's Activism Against Sex Discrimination: The 1970 HEW Investigation of the University of Michigan . Eric A. Stein, a graduate student, conducted the research as part of a Summer Research Internship advised by Abigail Stewart, Director of the IRWG.

Using both historical documentation and oral interviews with university faculty and staff, as well as others involved in issues of sex discrimination in the 1970s, the project was an attempt to show how the 1970 HEW investigation was important to the fight against gender discrimination both at the University of Michigan and nationally.