Despite the Civil Rights Act and the social revolutions of the era, the term "sex discrimination" was unknown in the 1960s. Discrimination on the basis of sex was rampant in America, especially when it came to women's employment in higher education. After being turned down repeatedly for full-time teaching positions at the University of Maryland, Bernice Sandler with the Women's Equity Action League, filed over 250 lawsuits against colleges and universities in protest to their discriminatory hiring practices, which in turn led to the creation of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972. This federal law was the force that enabled women to break barriers concerning their employment in higher education and would later address countless other injustices occurring at such institutions.