Community Action/Activism/Involvement

Dr. Sandler has been very active in applying her theories and beliefs about issues into the real world. Her activism and community involvement started in high school when World War II was going on. There were many after-school activities promoting the saving “of fuel (coal mostly)”. All the activities at that time were geared to the war. She and her friends would package “scarves and hats for England”. Even in the Girl Scout Camp she attended for three different years, everything was geared toward the war. “We worked on farms during the day and had camp activities during the night and weekend. We helped harvest the crops because most of the young men were in the war.” So already, as young woman she knew the idea and power of community involvement in the support of causes. These experiences probably helped her in her own activism.
She has created and been a part of many women's groups. Of course, one of the biggest and most extensive projects for women's rights that she instigated and fought for publicly was the passing of Title IX. ("Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is the federal legislation that prohibits educational institutions that are receiving federal funding of any sort -loans, contracts, grants, etc.- from discriminating against students or employees on the basis of sex.") Her interest in the passing of Title IX started when she was turned away from an interview because she "came on too strong for a woman."
The work that went into the passage of Title IX was extensive and frustrating but she had the help from the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL). Together they started a campaign to end sex discrimination within higher education and job opportunities. She gathered 80 pages of documentation to go with the complaint to make it more affective. 200 copies were sent to the press and members of congress. This started a huge uprising in the US, women spoke out from all over the country trying to support by offering their own personal experiences. There were seven days of hearings on account of discrimination and with all this work and more, the amendment was passed. ( "Too strong for a woman"--the five words that created Title IX)
Title IX has created equal treatment and opportunities for women to participate within educational programs as well as clubs and sports that are funded by the school. Women are not discriminated against in science or math clubs or majors as well as the in the medical field. This law has created this equality for women’s opportunities. It also has caused a lot of controversy for college athletics. Equal opportunity for men and women means that some of the budgets for male sports teams need to be cut to provide a fund for female sports teams. Women are given equal opportunity to participate in a sport regardless if sports are still gender separated. There has been a lot of controversy because people are complaining with the cutting of funds but in turn it has opened a lot of doors for female athletes.
She also did more than 2500 presentations about certain issues as well as strategies to regulate and make a safer environment. These presentations were out to change the problems women were facing. This included sexual harassment, gang rape, sex discrimination and her famous Chilly Climate in the Classroom. The articles/books she writes about these issues not only include subtle signs and warnings of what is happening but also ways to change the situations from ever occurring. As a teacher and administrator, she wrote guidelines to regulate behavior in the classroom by identifying what is wrong. Most people who write books about issues have really heated and frustrated viewpoints but never do anything to fix the problem. Dr. Sandler has been very active and intelligent in her ways of changing the atmosphere for women.
She is an expert witness in higher education for sex discrimination and sexual harassment. She created and was the editor for a quarterly newspaper called "About Women on Campus".
She's a senior associate for the Center for Women Policy Studies. She is a senior scholar for the National Association for Women in Education. She is also an executive associate and Director of the Project on the Status and Education of Women. She was the deputy director for a women's action program.
She currently is a "senior scholar at the Women's Research and Education Institute in Washington DC and is also self-employed." She is also an "adjunct Associate Professor and the Hahnemann School of Medicine."