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Diablo Valley College to Reinstate Teams

By Erin Buzuvis, Sudha Setty, and Kristine Newhall

Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill, California) will reinstate the men's and women's cross country, track and tennis teams cut four months ago, in settlement of a threatened investigation and review by the Office of Civil Rights. The two-year college, which has 52% male enrollment that receives s 61% of athletic participation opportunities, cut an equal number of men's and women's teams, in order to "try to remove discussion of gender equality," according to an official of the Conta Costa Community College District, which operates DVC. After the coaches of the terminated teams filed a complaint with OCR, the government announced plans to investigate, which lead to DVC's decision to reinstate the teams.

I am kind of amazed that college administrators assumed that cutting an equal number of men's and women's teams would neutralize any Title IX concerns. They clearly did not look at the law, the regulations, or any court decision in a case involving cuts, or else they would know that is a violation of Title IX to cut a viable team of underrepresented sex. I guess that whole post from the other day about Title IX "illiteracy" applies to administrators as well.

I am also amazed that DVC decided not to rehire the coaches who filed the complaint with OCR to coach their reinstated teams. One told Inside Higher Ed that he thinks this decision is clearly retaliation, and is pursuing remedies through his union. On the surface it sure does look that way. We'll be watching to see if the coaches file suit.

Full post as published by Title IX Blog on July 08, 2010 (boomark / email).