Title IX became law on June 23, 1972, signed by President Nixon after a long run through court systems.  It was meant to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which did not include prohibition of gender discrimination in educational employment. In 1969, Bernice Sandler of University of Maryland filed a complaint against the university based on gender discrimination in high education employment at the institution. Sandler argued that this discrimination demanded congressional attention. In 1970, Sandler joined Representative Edith Green, chair of the subcommittee on Higher Education of the Education and Labor Committee who sat in on congressional hearings on the discussion of women’s rights. In the same year, Representative Martha Griffith also gave a speech on the floor of the House on discrimination against women in higher education.An early draft of the Title IX proposal  was authored by Representative Patsy Mink, along with Representative Green. Title IX focused on the hiring and employment practices of federally financed institutions. Title IX was introduced to Congress by its author and chief Senate sponsor, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana. A new document, Title IX of the Education Acts, addressed sex discrimination in more than just faculty employment but in student admissions, scholarships, and other affairs. When signed  into law in 1972, Title IX stated that:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

This law applied to all educational institutes who were subject to its regulations, but there was resistance and delays in its full implementation due to disagreements between the law and the institutions it applied to. Since 2000, additional institutions receiving federal financial assistance have also been subjected to Title IX regulation. These include police academies, job-training programs, vocational training for prison inmates, and other educational programs.

Centre College adopted the Title IX policy as demanded by federal regulations, but was able to stall on its full adoption for a while due to its status as a private institution (did not receive federal funding). In 1978 the Office of Civil Rights notified the college president that a former student had filed a complaint for the inequitable treatment of women's athletics, but nothing appeared to come of it. John Talbert, the deputy director of the OCR, sent a letter to President Spragens the same year, ending it by saying, "... However, we cannot schedule the complaint for an immediate investigation. It has been placed in our backlog of complaints at this time." (October 23, 1978).

With many other similar situations happening since Title IX's enactment, the college created a complex web of policies around the subject of sexual misconduct and discrimination which meant that many cases slipped through the gaps or were allowed to fall into the backlog. So in 2014, the Title IX team was created in conjunction with a revamp of the sexual harassment policies. Their main goal was to streamline the policies to better serve the community while also having dedicated staff for investigating, reviewing, and resolving all sexual misconduct cases in a timely manner.