Education Law

Softball coach takes on football

Posted on November 16, 2009
Usually when we hear about a complaint filed by or on behalf of softball players, said complaint usually compares the treatment softball receives or the facilities it has access to as compared to baseball. But a recent complaint, initially filed anonymously and then admitted to by the softball coach at Theodore High School in Mobile County Alabama, compares the treatment the team get to that of the football team...

DII field hockey team in NC cut

Posted on November 13, 2009
It's never good news when I pull out my calculator and head to the Department of Education's Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool. And this time it's bad news for Catawba College in North Carolina. According to a very brief piece in USA Today, the school has cut women's field hockey--effective immediately...

Illinois high school lawsuit ongoing

Posted on November 12, 2009
In Canton, IL a lawsuit brought by two parents alleging inequities between the girls' sports program and the boys' program remains unsettled. Mediation had been ongoing but the school board rejected this week the proposed settlement and thus litigation remains pending with a trial scheduled for May 2010...

Title IX dads

Posted on November 11, 2009
In what is being called a love letter to Title IX, writer, editor and father Mark Schmitt penned his tribute to Title IX, his daughter, Little League and social change last week in a very nice column about the legislation in his magazine The American Prospect...

To access blog feed reader register for free. (You will also learn about new ways to read and access the freshest law blogs.)

Lapchick weighs in on new NCAA president

Posted on November 10, 2009
In a recent issue of Sport Business Journal (which, unfortunately, is only available to subscribers), Dr. Richard Lapchick, who is notable for his many reports on gender and racial diversity in sport and the experiences of collegiate student athletes, has an editorial about the passing of NCAA president Myles Brand and who should take the reins...

Fresno State Settles With Former Assistant Track Coach

Posted on November 09, 2009
We blogged earlier this year about Ramona Pagel's case against Fresno State, in which she claimed that the athletic department failed to renew her contract and passed her over for promotion to head coach because she advocated for equal treatment for female athletes...

OCR to Investigate Whether University of Kansas Athletics Discriminates Against Men

Posted on November 07, 2009
According to CollegeSwimming.com, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights will investigate a complaint filed against the University of Kansas last month, alleging that the University's failure to offer a men's swimming and diving team violates Title IX...

Jury Finds for UW in Rape Case

Posted on November 06, 2009
Here is an update to yesterday's post about the trial against University of Washington regarding its handling of a student's rape charges against a football player. While jurors apparently viewed the UW's conduct as constituting deliberate indifference, they did not agree that the plaintiff satisfied another element for institutional liability under Title IX for peer harassment...

More Universities Add Competitive Cheer... I Mean, "Team Stunt and Gymnastics"

Posted on November 06, 2009
A recent article in Athletic Business profiles the apparent trend in college sports -- competitive teams in an activity formerly(?) known as cheerleading, now, at least in some circles, team stunt and gymnastics. Competitive cheer is nothing like sideline cheer, or the predominantly sideline cheerleaders who perform a competitive routine once a year at Nationals...

UW Rape Case Goes to Trial

Posted on November 05, 2009
A jury will soon decide whether the University of Washington violated Title IX in its handling of claims that a football player had raped another student, his former girlfriend. As we have noted in a prior post, the victim, identified in court proceedings only as S...

Court Dismisses Retaliation Case Against National Geographic

Posted on November 04, 2009
A federal district court recently threw out Title IX claims against National Geographic Society after determining that it did did not retaliate against against the plaintiff, who had been the director of the NGS-affiliated entity that operated the National Geography Bee in North Dakota...

Connecticut Boy Calls State Field Hockey Policy Into Question

Posted on November 03, 2009
The Hartford Courant recently profiled a middle school field hockey player in Avon, Connecticut, named Blake Armistead. Though he has been allowed to play on the girls' team in middle school, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference does not allow boys to play on high school teams...

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to Look at Admissions, Athletics

Posted on November 02, 2009
InsideHigherEd.com reports today that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has commenced an "inquiry" into admissions standards that may be favoring male applicants who are increasingly underrepresented in the student bodies of many liberal arts colleges...

Early talk of retaliation in firing of tennis coach

Posted on October 29, 2009
Last week, Ball State University in Indiana fired its women's tennis coach. Kathy Bull was in her 22nd year as head coach of the team. The firing, according to the athletic department, is the result of NCAA violations. Ball State, until earlier this month, had been on NCAA probation due to a textbook scandal several years ago...

In case you didn't believe us...

Posted on October 21, 2009
...it's true that most athletic departments do not make money and many are not even breaking even these days. The NCAA released the results of a study this week that looked at the numbers from 2004-2008. In DI, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) consists of 119 schools...

Lax growing in popularity

Posted on October 20, 2009
Hilbert College in New York will be adding men's and women's lacrosse next year, reflecting a trend--a couple actually. First lacrosse is at or near the top of the list of fastest-growing sports at both the high school and collegiate level and for both men and women...

Women's wrestling coming to Texas

Posted on October 16, 2009
High school wrestling in Texas may not be as big as football but 7,000 high schoolers compete in the sport. But there are no intercollegiate wrestling programs in the state.Wayland Baptist University in Plainview is changing that. The university will add men's and women's wrestling in 2010 and hopes to be a trend setter in terms of the presence of the sport in Texas colleges and universities...

Settlement Ends Title IX Suit Against FHSAA

Posted on October 15, 2009
The controversy in Florida that resulted when the state's athletic association that proposed a cost-saving schedule reduction for every sport except football and cheer was largely resolved over the summer, when the FHSAA rescinded the proposal in response to a lawsuit...

Fields of discontent in Ohio

Posted on October 11, 2009
A parent has notified the ACLU which has sent a letter to the Chillicoth school district saying that they may be in violation of Title IX due to the discrepancies between the high school's softball and baseball fields. Which are the facilities in question remains a confusion because the baseball team's usual field has been out of commission for several years during building facilities renovations...

New Research Addresses Discrimination in Ticket Prices

Posted on October 07, 2009
A new report by researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women examines the gender gap in ticket prices for Division I college basketball. Significantly, the report explains that ticket prices are set by athletic departments' own judgments of the value of women's sports, rather than by market forces...

Quinnipiac v-ball not a sure thing

Posted on October 02, 2009
During the midst of court proceedings last spring, Quinnipiac University in Connecticut reinstated women's volleyball under pressure about their Title IX compliance and some questions about doctored rosters.But the university went ahead with its original plan of adding competitive cheerleading...

Alaskan softball players cite inequities

Posted on October 01, 2009
Can't believe Sarah Palin who, during her vice-presidential campaign, espoused the benefits of Title IX, let her home town get away with inequitable treatment of female student-athletes.But the Mat-Su School District, which includes the town of Wasilla, is facing a lawsuit brought by two softball players (and their parents)...

Lower Court Dismisses Former AD's Case Against Lafayette College

Posted on September 30, 2009
Eve Atkinson sued Lafayette College in 2001, arguing that the college terminated her from the athletic director position, which she had held since 1989, in retaliation for her advocacy on behalf of women's athletics and Title IX. A federal court initially dismissed her lawsuit on the grounds that Title IX's private right of action did not cover retaliation claims...

Law Review Article Addresses Sexual Harassment in Athletics

Posted on September 29, 2009
The current issue of the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal contains new scholarship by the prolific Title IX expert Diane Heckman, which addresses Title IX sexual harassment cases in the athletic context. Heckman first provides overview about the legal standard for an institution's sexual harassment liability and also explores the unique power dynamic between coaches (particularly, male coaches) and student athletes (particularly, female athletes) that can create sexualized environment rife for harassment...

Will Maryland be the next to cut sports?

Posted on September 27, 2009
Hopefully not, says athletic director Deborah Yow. But despite early predictions that the recession is over, the University of Maryland is exploring all scenarios that would enable to survive the current economic crisis.A recent report has outlined possibilities for keeping the department financially stable enough while remaining successful throughout the coming years of potential hardship...

Movie review: License to Thrive

Posted on September 23, 2009
The people at Women Makes Movies very kindly sent us a copy of License to Thrive: Title IX at 35. Despite our best intentions, we had not been able to catch a viewing of it when the documentary was making the rounds in New England last year.A lot of interesting stories and facts within the 48-minute movie by Harvard alum Theresa Moore...

ACLU Challenges Sex Segregation in Louisiana School

Posted on September 22, 2009
On behalf of parents of students at Rene A. Rost Middle School in Kaplan, Louisiana, the ACLU has sued the Vermilion Parish School District to challenge the sex-segregated classes there. According to the complaint, the district announced to parents over the summer that their children would be enrolled in sex-segregated classes...

Law Review Article Addresses School Violence

Posted on September 21, 2009
In the current issue of the Journal of College and University Law, Georgetown Law Center's Nancy Cantalupo examines the interrelatedness of peer sexual violence and other, more rare forms of school violence such as mass shootings. She argues that schools should address both types of violence with a victim-centered approach that encourages reporting...

Myles Brand, 1942-2009

Posted on September 17, 2009
Sadly, NCAA president Myles Brand died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. Christine Brennan has a nice tribute to him. Brand will hopefully be remembered for ensuring academic standards and civil and gender rights in intercollegiate athletics. He pressured schools to get rid of their Native American mascots and recently Brand publicly stated that Title IX should not be blamed--in these tough economic times--for cuts to men's sports...

California HS Improves Softball Field After Title IX Complaint

Posted on September 15, 2009
A reader sent me this good news out of California: the Torrance Unified School District has improved the softball fields at West High School after a Title IX complaint filed last fall cited the district with 20 possible violations. The district settled to avoid litigation, and to its credit, moved quickly to install new fields, electronic scoreboards, and spectator bleachers in time for the beginning of the 2010 season -- a total cost of $40,000...

Thanks, C. Vivian Stringer

Posted on September 14, 2009
New Hall of Fame inductee C. Vivian Stringer gave a big shoutout to Title IX during her speech at the Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on Friday evening. All the clips I have seen of the speech--including the ones on ESPN!--use the portion of her speech where she thanks the existence of Title IX for giving girls sport options besides sideline cheering for the boys.

ACLU, School District Settle Harassment and Discrimination Case

Posted on September 11, 2009
The Newport-Mesa School District in Orange County, California, has agreed to implement harassment and discrimination training for its students and staff, in settlement of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. As we noted last March, the ACLU sued the school district on behalf of a former student of Corona del Mar High School, who alleged that school officials did not respond adequately when three football players harassed her and threatened her with rape...

CVS in the HOF

Posted on September 10, 2009
C. Vivian Stringer, head coach of the Rutgers women's basketball team, will be inducted tomorrow into the Basketball Hall of Fame (right here in Springfield). We here at the Title IX Blog have much respect and admiration for Coach Stringer, and we are thrilled to see her recognized alongside Michael Jordan, John Stockton, David Robinson, and Jerry Sloan, the other inductees...

Same-sex classrooms in South Carolina

Posted on September 08, 2009
We have blogged about same-sex classrooms in public schools previously and this article out of Greenville, SC does not appear to say anything new about the situation. It is a quite balanced piece that uses narratives from same-sex classroom teachers and parents as well as research and testimony from educational researchers...

New Book Examines Challenges Facing Women Coaches

Posted on September 03, 2009
In her new (2009) book, Gender Games: Why Women Coaches Are Losing the Field, author Christina Cruz examines gendered dynamic of college athletic departments and the tensions that it creates for female coaches. These tensions, which Cruz labels "micro-competitions" likely explain why the percentage of coaches who are female has diminished from over 90% to 43% in the last thirty years...

Study Finds Correllation Between Sexist Team Names and Women's Athletic Opportunities

Posted on September 02, 2009
A recent article (well, 2008, but it only just now came across my radar) in the journal Sociology of Education examines team nicknames in college and university athletics and suggests that schools that use sexist nomenclature to distinguish their women's teams are also likely to offer disproportionately fewer athletic opportunities to women...

Colorado making progress

Posted on August 31, 2009
As part of University of Colorado's settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit with two former students, the university hired lawyer, law professor, and Title IX expert Nancy Hogshead-Makar to review existing gender discrimination and sexual harassment policies and recommend new ones...

Former Hawaii AD sues

Posted on August 26, 2009
University of Hawaii-Hilo administrators have been named in a recent lawsuit filed by former athletic director Kathleen McNally who is alleging both racial and gender discrimination. We have not seen an intersectional complaint in a while, though how much credence a court will give the racial claim remains to be seen, especially because the evidence seems to border on hearsay...

Professor Settles Discrimination Case Against Penn State

Posted on August 25, 2009
Penn State and a former assistant professor have reached a settlement to terminate the professor's lawsuit alleging that she was not promoted due to discrimination on the basis of her sexual orientation. The plaintiff, Constance Matthews, had applied for promotion and tenure in 2004, after serving as an assistant professor in the College of Education since 1998...

NYCLU Files Lawsuit Over Anti-Gay Bullying

Posted on August 21, 2009
The New York Civil Liberties Union recently filed suit against the Mohawk Central School District, claiming it is liable under Title IX to a student, J.L., for failing to protect him student from bullying and harassment resulting from his sexual orientation and gender nonconformity...

New angle in Title IX bullying case

Posted on August 20, 2009
In Pittsburgh, PA a mother is suing the school district and school officials for failing to take action when her daughter was being bullied about her weight. Despite complaints to officials and attempted interventions by other students, the bullying of the 6th-grader continued and the girl developed anorexia for which she entered a treatment facility in 2008...

School District Will Pay $25K to Settle Gay Harassment Suit

Posted on August 19, 2009
The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota recently agreed to a $25,000 settlement in response to a student's claims that he was verbally harassed by two of his teachers because they believed he was gay (additional press is here and here). According to a report by the Minnesota Human Rights Commission, which investigated the claims, a teacher named Diane Cleveland "singled him out on nearly a daily basis by making jokes, comments and innuendos about her perception of his sexual orientation" -- for example, that the student's "fence swings both ways," and that he had a "thing for older men...

Dillard adding sports

Posted on August 18, 2009
Part of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, Dillard University in Louisiana is adding three sports in the coming academic year. No word on why, but the athletic director announced earlier this month that softball and men's and women's track and field and cross country will become part of the school's intercollegiate sport offerings...

Dep't of Ed Says Schools Potentially Liable for Cyber-Harassment

Posted on August 12, 2009
The Department of Education addressed for the first time whether schools could violate Title IX by failing to respond appropriately to sexual harassment on-line, according to advocacy group Security On Campus.The agency was adjudicating charges that Hofstra University did not adequately protect a female student from sexual assault that followed a barrage of sexual harassing comments about her on a now-defunct gossip website called Juicy Campus...

More details on the status of sand volleyball

Posted on August 10, 2009
So not too long ago we got wind that sand volleyball was not a shoo-in for emerging sport status; that there were some concerns. But we didn't get a lot of information about the situation. Then I read a piece by Graham Watson at ESPN.com where it seemed that sand volleyball was a go...

Christine Brennan: Title IX Not to Blame for "Poor Decision-Making of Athletic Directors"

Posted on August 07, 2009
Christine Brennan, sports reporter and columnist for USA Today, was recently interviewed by Real Clear Sports. Brennan's consistent support and advocacy for Title IX was reflected, in particular, in her explanation for why Title IX is not to blame for cuts to men's athletics...

Title IX Blogger Responds Hawaii Coach's Use of Homophobic Slurs

Posted on August 06, 2009
A shout-out to my co-blogger Kris, who has an excellent essay at Inside Higher Ed on the fallout from the University of Hawaii football coach's use of "faggot" to belittle an opposing team. While not directly a Title IX matter, the coach's comments reflect the hegemonic masculinity in which athletic department culture -- in particular football culture, as Kris points out -- is deeply entrenched.

List of Statewide Title IX Coordinators

Posted on July 31, 2009
Here is the Feminist Majority Foundation's 2009 list of Title IX Coordinators designated by state education agencies. These individuals advise their agencies about gender equity issues and provide support to Title IX coordinators at the district and school level...

Irvine forced to cut sports

Posted on July 30, 2009
The University of California Irvine is looking to cut $1 million from its budget by doing some reshuffling and, unfortunately, by cutting sports. Five programs will be discontinued next year: men's and women's swimming/diving, sailing, and women's and men's rowing...

FGCU Athletic Department Earns High Marks in External Review

Posted on July 29, 2009
Today the external review team assigned to evaluate Florida Gulf Coast University athletic department's compliance with Title IX released its final report (news coverage) (report). The review was conducted as part of a settlement of litigation involving claims that the university discriminated and retaliated against female coaches who had voiced concerns about inequality in the department...

Student Note Examines Schools' Liability for Sexual Harassment

Posted on July 28, 2009
New student-authored scholarship in the Valparaiso University Law Review offers a critical examination of the Title IX standard for sexual harassment in the particular context of harassment of student-athletes. Brianna Schroeder argues that the standard for evaluating a school's liability for sexual harassment, first outlined in Gebser v...

Oh, Florida

Posted on July 28, 2009
There is no new news to report out of Florida and the situation with the Florida High School Athletic Association. But there has been plenty of media coverage--including editorials that ask the hackneyed question: "Is it time to revise Title IX?" Various constituencies and individuals have been asking that question since the 70s...

Another baseball/softball comparison

Posted on July 26, 2009
Add C.D. Hylton High School in Virginia to the list of schools being investigated for facility disparities. Like numerous (over 40 according to WaPo) high schools in the United States, C.D. Hylton has a great baseball facility and a sub par softball facility...

Reaction to IHSAA lawsuit

Posted on July 24, 2009
Seems as if reaction is mixed regarding the current scheduling of boys and girls basketball games in Indiana. This also means there is mixed reaction over what schedule changes might occur if the lawsuit is successful.It certainly does not appear that--at least for now--the lawsuit has engendered any violent or overly passionate responses that involve bashing Title IX or girls' sports generally...

Scheduling at issue in Indiana

Posted on July 21, 2009
The scheduling of girls' and boys' high school basketball games in Indiana has long been an issue; an issue the Indiana High School Athletic Association has seemingly chosen to ignore. But a recent lawsuit filed by a parent will probably make them pay attention...

A FHSAA P.S.

Posted on July 17, 2009
The piece the NYT ran about FHSAA's decision to reverse its earlier inequitable cuts was the most comprehensive one I read. In addition to reporting on the situation in Florida, it notes that other state high school athletics associations have enacted similar budget-saving measures--some equitable, some not so much...

FHSAA takes it back

Posted on July 16, 2009
The cuts to the number of interscholastic competitions, passed by the Florida High School Athletic Association in April, were rescinded yesterday in an emergency meeting, as expected.There will still be a hearing tomorrow to consider the injunction brought by Florida Parents for Athletic Equity against FHSAA, which would prevent the latter group from going through with the cuts at a later date...

Rescinding on the horizon

Posted on July 14, 2009
The Florida High School Athletic Association is meeting (I thought tomorrow but this article implies it is today) and is likely to overturn its own decision to cut varsity sport competitions--except in football and "competitive" cheerleading--by 20 percent...

Sand volleyball recalled

Posted on July 13, 2009
Somehow we missed the news that sand volleyball, the newly named NCAA emerging sport, has been called back to the drawing board.It seems San Diego State University had been planning to add sand volleyball along with women's lacrosse. SDSU must meet the gender equity standards established for all California state universities...

Banning Boy from Field Hockey Underscores Discrimination and Stereotypes Against Girls

Posted on July 08, 2009
A Waynesboro, PA high school principal's decision to prohibit a male student from trying out for field hockey is being decried by some as "reverse discrimination." Reverse discrimination? Invoking Title IX, the principal told Mat Levine that (1) his presence would make the sport unsafe for the girls, (2) that parents would be jealous of his playing time, and (3) that it would take away opportunities for girls in violation of Title IX...

FHSAA seeks dismissal

Posted on July 07, 2009
In the "you've got to be kidding me" moment of the week (of course, it's only Tuesday, and things can change quickly in Title IX land--especially when it comes to litigation) the Florida High School Athletic Association has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by Florida Parents for Athletic Equity for inequitable cuts to game schedules...

A cheerleading PS

Posted on July 05, 2009
A recently released study from University of North Carolina says, not surprisingly, that cheerleading is the most injury-laden women's sport.So while the status of cheerleading may be somewhat contested these days, the fact that it is dangerous is not...

Darien Board of Ed is Cautious About Accepting Gift

Posted on July 04, 2009
A foundation has offered to donate $50,000 to support athletics at Darien (Connecticut) High School, but the Board of Education is exercising caution about whether to accept the funds, which are earmarked for the support of football ($25,000), girls' swimming ($12,500) and girls' lacrosse ($12,500)...

Eighth Circuit to Women Prisoners: Take Parenting and "Health Lifestyles," Not Accounting

Posted on July 03, 2009
[Guest post authored by my colleague, Giovanna Shay]On July 2nd, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion rejecting a challenge to women's prison programming under Title IX and Equal Protection, the latest in a series of such cases from that region. Yesterday's opinion, Roubideaux v...

UAA Investigation Reveals Locker Room Disparity

Posted on July 02, 2009
The University of Alaska-Anchorage has announced plans to renovate athletic facilities to create two additional locker rooms that would provide more space to female athletes. An internal investigation into concerns the athletic department's gender equity revealed that due to the men's basketball and hockey teams currently each have their own locker rooms and individual lockers for each player, which contributes to an overall disparity in which 57% of male athletes have individual lockers compared to 13% of female athletes and in which male athletes averaged 11 square feet of locker room space compared to seven square feet per woman...

Cheerleading to ease Title IX controversy?

Posted on June 30, 2009
That's the thought of a writer in New York who believes that the growth of competitive cheerleading and its acceptance as a sport by some schools could help ease all the Title IX controversy over "quotas."Would that it were so (or that we would want it to be so)...

Title IX Doesn't Cover Coach's Discrimination Against Female Football Player, Court Rules

Posted on June 29, 2009
Ivyanne Elborough played football on the freshman team at Evansville High School in Wisconsin. She was the only female member of the team. Her coach, Ron Grovesteen, apparently did not like having a girl on the team. He regularly failed to unlock the girls' locker room, so Elborough had to find someone with a key to let her in so she could get her equipment...

Court Reconsiders Severity of Single-Incident Harassment

Posted on June 26, 2009
Rarely do courts grants motions to reconsider prior rulings, but a federal judge in New York did so this week in the context of a peer harassment case. CG was a special needs student at a public junior high school in New York City. During computer class, she was assaulted by two male students, one who grabbed her breasts from behind and the other pulled her pants down and touched her buttocks...

Re-shuffling the program in West Virginia

Posted on June 25, 2009
The athletic department at Salem International University in Salem, WV has had some problems with ineligible players and institutional control. So while they are on NCAA and conference probation (including no post-season eligibility), administrators are doing some reorganization...

Under pressure, FHSAA calls emergency meeting

Posted on June 24, 2009
Realizing what many before them have not, the Florida High School Athletic Association has decided that doling out legal fees might run counter to efforts to save money--exactly what their plan to reduce the number of athletic contests was supposed to do...

Happy Birthday, Title IX!

Posted on June 23, 2009
37 years and counting.

White House Celebrates Title IX Anniversary

Posted on June 23, 2009
President Obama will commemorate the 37th anniversary of Title IX today during his press conference from the Rose Garden. Also (in another example of the interface between Title IX and Facebook) the White House is hosting an online discussion this afternoon (2:30 EST) to honor the anniversary...

Training Rules screening in Minneapolis

Posted on June 23, 2009
Training Rules, the documentary about Rene Portland's anti-lesbian policies and the case brought against her and Penn State by former Lion Jennifer Harris, is screening tomorrow evening (Wednesday, June 24) at 7pm at the Walker Art Center. The movie, which will be followed by Football Under Cover, a documentary about Iranian women's soccer, is part of the Walker's Queer Takes film series...

More coverage of Florida case

Posted on June 20, 2009
This site has an interview with Nancy Hogshead-Makar, several student-athletes, and a parent about the lawsuit and injunction Florida Parents for Athletic Equity have filed against the Florida High School Athletic Association which has a policy that will cut athletic contests for all students athletes except football players and cheerleaders...

Settlement Reached in UC Davis Case

Posted on June 19, 2009
In 2007, three female students who played club sports at the University of California at Davis sued the university to challenge the lack of varsity athletic opportunities for women. They argued that Davis failed to satisfy any of the three alternative prongs for measuring compliance in this regard...

Florida case and thoughts on cheerleading

Posted on June 18, 2009
The Florida Parents for Athletic Equity have indeed filed a lawsuit against the Florida High School Athletic Association as they promised they would if FHSAA did not make moves toward ensuring equitable competitive opportunities.This case and the Quinnipiac University case which is now in mediation have brought up, seemingly on the side but maybe not, the issue of competitive cheerleading...

Facebooking a discrimination case

Posted on June 17, 2009
Florida Parents for Athletic Equity will be following through on their decision to file a lawsuit against the Florida High School Athletic Association over the latter's policy to reduce the number of athletic contests for all teams except football.And they will also be updating the happenings in the case on Facebook...

Court Sides With School District in Cyber-Harassment Case

Posted on June 16, 2009
Recently a federal district court in New York dismissed a case against the Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free School District on grounds that the plaintiff's allegation that she had been sexually harassed by another student via email did not constitute violation of Title IX or other law...

The not-so-far-reaching effects of equity in sports

Posted on June 15, 2009
Frequently overlooked when we make statements such as "girls have benefited from Title IX" or "the growth of high school girls in sports has been X-fold since the passage of Title IX" is the fact that "girls" is not a nice, neat category. "Girls" is actually quite complex...

Never mind

Posted on June 13, 2009
The negotiations between the Florida High School Athletic Association and Florida Parents for Athletic Equity, which is being represented by Nancy Hogshead-Makar, have apparently broken down because the announcement that was expected Friday never happened...

Mediation in QU case

Posted on June 12, 2009
Judge Stefan Underhill, who ordered the injunction on the Quinnipiac Title IX/volleyball case recently, has sent the case to a magistrate judge for mediation talks. No word here on what next week's talks will address, but both sides made the request to the district court...

Potential resolution in Florida interscholastic athletics

Posted on June 11, 2009
After being given a 10-day window to come up with an equitable solution to cutting sports contests, the Florida High School Athletic Association will announce two options for schools. In April FHSAA said it would cut all varsity contests by 20 percent--except football...

Lawsuit Filed Against Canton School District

Posted on June 11, 2009
Students and parents in Canton, Illinois, have sued School District No. 66 over alleged Title IX violations. Their complaint maintains that the district discriminates against girls' athletics in the scheduling practice times and times, and by providing equipment -- like sound systems -- and facilities -- such as locker rooms -- that are inferior to those provided for boys' athletics...

Softball for Weatherford?

Posted on June 10, 2009
New trustees are in place at Weatherford College in Texas and all are going forth with the agreement with OCR that states that the college will survey students and add a women's team if results deem it necessary. This article, though not stating if and when a survey will occur, does mention that on the agenda for an upcoming trustees' meeting is the addition of women's softball...

Cutting costs without cutting sports

Posted on June 09, 2009
In the wake of the Quinnipiac case, in which it seemed that the university somewhat spitefully cut men's track and field when it was told it had to retain women's volleyball, at least temporarily, in order to work out some Title IX issues, it is a good time to note that budgets cuts do not have to equal cutting teams...

Florida cutting high school contests

Posted on June 06, 2009
In a cost-reducing effort, the Florida High School Athletic Association came up with and initially approved a plan to cut back the number of games teams play during a season; 20 percent across the board. Except for football.You would be right if you too thought that wasn't actually going to fly...

Darien schools have some issues

Posted on June 04, 2009
Findings from the second (out of three) investigation in three years at the high school in Darien, Connecticut have found inequities that affect four girl's sports. Also revealed was that the three complaints have been filed by the same party whose identity was not made known...

Cheerleading one's way to compliance

Posted on May 31, 2009
A short but somewhat informative article about the issues surrounding competitive cheerleading and its potential to resolve some schools' Title IX issues around opportunities. Appropriate given the recent attempt by Quinnipiac to earn compliance by cutting a more traditional sport (volleyball) and add cheerleading...

Volleyball Reinstated at QU, Men's Track Eliminated

Posted on May 27, 2009
After being temporarily enjoined from cutting the women's volleyball program, Quinnipiac University has decided to permanently reinstate the team. This move will likely result in a settlement of the Title IX lawsuit against the university, according to the volleyball team's lawyers from the ACLU of Connecticut...

Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don't Play Baseball

Posted on May 26, 2009
The topic of women and baseball is one frequently mentioned on this blog; just recently we posted about the Indiana teenager whose lawsuit integrated high school baseball in her state. There's also been much buzz lately about the International Baseball Federation's campaign to make women's baseball an Olympic sport (see, e...

Low priority setting for gymnastics?

Posted on May 24, 2009
A federal complaint has been filed alleging that the Rapid City School District in Iowa is violating Title IX by treating the gymnastics team as a low priority. The complaint cites the lower salaries received by gymnastics coaches as well as the lack of adequate locker rooms and practice space.

Judge Grants Injunction to Save Qunnipiac Volleyball

Posted on May 23, 2009
Quinnipiac University women's volleyball will remain a varsity sport, for another season anyway, after federal district court judge Stephan Underhill granted the preliminary injunction the team was seeking to stave off the university's effort to terminate the sport for budgetary reasons...

Texas School District Under Investigation

Posted on May 22, 2009
The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas is currently being investigated by the Office for Civil Rights, which received allegations that that district has discriminated against female athletes by offering fewer opportunities and by providing girls teams with inferior facilities, specifically with regards to softball...

School District Settles Lesbian Harassment Case

Posted on May 21, 2009
The Vallejo City Unified School District in California will pay a former student, Rochelle Hamilton, $25,000 in a settlement to keep her from filing a lawsuit over anti-gay harassment she alleges to have experienced at the hands of faculty and staff during her sophomore year at Jesse Bethel High School...

Indiana State suspends tennis

Posted on May 20, 2009
Cut has become the latest dirty word in intercollegiate athletics. Perhaps that is why Indiana State University has "indefinitely suspended" men's and women's tennis. Budgetary issues was the reason behind the suspension of the two teams which were chosen because they would have the minimum amount of impact on student-athletes and coaches...

Indiana Girls May Try Out for Baseball

Posted on May 19, 2009
Earlier this month, the Indiana High School Athletic Association voted unanimously to make permanent its executive board's emergency ruling (see also here) issued in February that would allow girls to try out for baseball, even if they attend schools that offer opportunities in softball...

Nicholls State cuts women's golf

Posted on May 18, 2009
Down in Louisiana where state budget issues are forcing cuts in state institutions (familiar story by now) Nicholls State has dropped its women's golf team. The school is now down to 14 teams, the minimum number it can field and still be eligible for DI status...

Ruling expected this week

Posted on May 18, 2009
According to this snippet from USA Today, Judge Stefan Underhill will rule some time this week in the Quinnipiac University volleyball case. Underhill will decide whether to grant an injunction that would prevent the school from cutting the team until the Title IX issues have been resolved in court...

Waiting game for QU volleyball

Posted on May 15, 2009
Arguments ended yesterday in the case against Quinnipiac University. The volleyball players will wait now to see if Judge Stefan Underhill will grant the injunction that would keep their team alive while litigation over Title IX compliance goes forward...

More Litigation in Sight For FGCU

Posted on May 15, 2009
Former Florida Gulf Coast University provost Bonnie Yegidis plans to file a lawsuit against the University, which would put FGCU back in the role of Title IX defendant with which it has become quite familiar.In her complaint, Yegidis maintains that she too experienced retaliation for challenging sex discrimination in the University and for advocating both to the interim President and to the chancellor that FGCU take seriously the complaint of female coaches about the gender inequities in athletics...

Roster doctoring confirmed at QU

Posted on May 14, 2009
Yesterday in a court in Connecticut where the coach and members of the Quinnipiac women's volleyball team are trying to get an injunction against the school that would prevent administration from cutting the team until all legal issues are resolved, the QU athletic director took the stand...

No irony at Fresno State

Posted on May 13, 2009
This editorial out of Fresno State wraps up the university's year in athletics noting the good, the bad, and the ugly.After mentioning that he heard the word Title IX more times this year than ever in his life, and how it was blamed for the loss of sports and all the lawsuits, he writes that:"ironically, the women?s sports brought most of the glory the school saw this year...

Evidence in Quinnipiac case

Posted on May 12, 2009
A sort of PS to yesterday's post about the beginning of the women's volleyball team's attempt to get their sport reinstated at Quinnipiac University.Coach Robin Sparks testified yesterday that the athletic department had engaged in some doctoring of team rosters in an attempt to make their participation numbers seem more equitable...

Quest for injunction began today

Posted on May 11, 2009
The ACLU began presenting its case for an injunction that would prevent Quinnipiac University from eliminating the women's volleyball team until the real issue, over Title IX compliance, is resolved. Testimony began today with at least one member of the volleyball team taking the stand...

Three years, three complaints

Posted on May 07, 2009
I think repeat offender status can officially be placed on Darien High School in Connecticut which, this past week, was the subject of a third complaint (in as many years) to OCR regarding Title IX compliance. This complaint is being filed on behalf of all girls' varsity athletes at the high school...

Breaking news: Judge dismisses coach's civil suit

Posted on May 06, 2009
After hearing oral arguments, a district judge in Nevada has thrown out the civil suit brought by former soccer coach Terri Patraw against the University of Nevada-Reno. Patraw's lawsuit claimed that the university fired her for complaining about Title IX and NCAA violations...

No quality coach, program dropped

Posted on May 06, 2009
With the spate of recent teams being cut or dropped from school's varsity roster due to budget issues, this news out of Montana is an interesting change.Miles Community College has dropped its women's volleyball program after unsuccessful three attempts at finding a qualified coach for the team...

Flip-flops III: Hawaii and Arizona looking at sand volleyball

Posted on May 05, 2009
The whole point of calling it sand volleyball, instead of beach volleyball, was to, according to the NCAA, make the newly named emerging sport a little more appealing to places not so sunny and ocean-y. But two schools actively considering adding the sport are sunny and warm: University of Hawaii and University of Arizona...

NYT addresses athletic department cuts

Posted on May 04, 2009
This weekend's NYT had an article on the spate of recent athletic department cuts including the many teams that have been lost to the economic recession.But the effects go beyond the athletes and coaches of the cut teams. The article predicts that the cuts will "alter the college sports landscape" and further reveal and widen the gap between the haves and have-nots...

UW cuts swimming

Posted on May 04, 2009
University of Washington, experiencing a budget shortfall similar to many--if not most--universities these days, has made the difficult decision to cut its men's and women's swim teams. The cuts were a surprise, especially given the recent growing success of the teams at the national level...

Adding lacrosse because they can?

Posted on May 03, 2009
Pleased as we are to see schools that have the ability to add sports at this particular moment in our economic climate, the addition of men's lacrosse at Aurora University in Illinois is a little curious. Seems that they have an underused and quite expensive turf field and they need a team to run all over it...

Tenn county has to answer to disparities

Posted on May 01, 2009
A county in Tennessee has received a complaint regarding the treatment of its girls' soccer team. OCR is set to investigate as soon as the school turns in its own report. The school had already been undertaking a Title IX assessment.But the complaint targets the perks some parents see the football team receiving and the lack of access the girls' soccer team, which has the season in the fall as well, receives...

Lawsuit against Columbia dismissed

Posted on April 30, 2009
Citing violations of Title IX and the First Amendment, lawyer Roy Den Hollander sued Columbia University for offering a women's studies program, but not a men's studies program. But his lawsuit was dismissed earlier this week.I am not the legal expert among us here, but I am in women's studies so this case interested me...

Delaware State cuts wrestling

Posted on April 29, 2009
DSU announced yesterday that it is cutting its wrestling team due to economic issues, gender equity concerns, and issues around the team's academic performance.The last is a problem plaguing several DSU teams and will likely result in some NCAA sanctions...

Maine cuts two sports

Posted on April 27, 2009
The University of Maine is cutting two varsity sports this year: women's volleyball and men's soccer. Economic woes are behind the cuts. Losing these two programs will save the department, which is being required to participate in its share of the school's overall budget reductions, $600,000 next year and $900,000 down the road...

MIT cutting 8 sports

Posted on April 25, 2009
MIT announced yesterday that it will cut eight varsity sports from what was once the largest (tied with Harvard at 41 sports) roster of intercollegiate sports in the country.Citing current and forthcoming budget issues (the institution as a whole is looking to save close to $150 million in the next few years), the athletic department and student life jointly presented the decision...

Flip-flops, Part II

Posted on April 24, 2009
The news that the NCAA has named sand volleyball has created some discussion--and concerns. With the economy in the toilet and so many athletic departments struggling, some are wondering how sand volleyball is going to get started. And it's true that discussions such as facilities and scholarships need to happen...

Break out the flip-flops!

Posted on April 23, 2009
The NCAA has approved "sand volleyball" as an emerging sport. (That's beach volleyball for all you with quizzical looks on your faces; they are calling it sand volleyball to appeal to landlocked institutions.) Competition is slated to begin in the 2010-11 school year...

Former Nevada coach's trial underway

Posted on April 22, 2009
Former University of Nevado-Reno soccer coach Terri Patraw is spending this week in court as she pursues her retaliation claim against the university that dismissed her for reasons they claim include stalker another coach and lying about her time at Arizona State University where, according to UNR officials she had an inappropriate relationship with a student...

Quinnipiac Volleyball Sues

Posted on April 17, 2009
Quinnipiac University volleyball players are challenging the university's recent decision to cut their sport. Their lawyers at the ACLU filed suit this week in federal court, arguing that the loss of women's volleyball is a clear violation of Title IX because Quinnipiac does not offer women athletic opportunities in numbers proportionate to their percentage of the student body...

Ninth Circuit Affirms Ruling Against Transgender Plaintiff in Bathroom Discrimination Case

Posted on April 16, 2009
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's ruling that dismissed plaintiff Rebecca Kastl's lawsuit against Maricopa County Community College. Kastl, who is transsexual, was a MCCC student and instructor, and sued the college in 2002 after it banned her from using the women's restroom and subsequently decided not to renew her contract...

Roundup of Recent Harassment Cases

Posted on April 15, 2009
Here are summaries of the four most recent federal court decisions in cases involving Title IX and sexual harassment. All four are favorable to the plaintiffs. The federal district court in Arkansas denied the Fayetteville School District's motion to dismiss several of plaintiff Billy Wolfe's claims that its failure protect him from anti-gay harassment violated Title IX and the U...

Fired University of Hawaii Basketball Coach Files Retaliation Suit

Posted on April 14, 2009
Via Helen at WHB I learned that Jim Bolla, the former women's basketball coach at the University of Hawaii, recently filed a lawsuit challenging his termination as unlawful retaliation under Title IX. UH fired Bolla for cause last week after investigating reports that he kicked a player and was verbally abusive towards them...

Conference Secures Broadcast of HS Girls' Basketball Tournament Selection Show

Posted on April 13, 2009
Title IX and women's sports advocates frequently bemoan gender disparities in media's coverage of high school and college sports. So it was nice to read about a high school athletic conference (upstate New York's Section III) that leveraged its broadcast rights to take steps towards equal coverage of boys and girls basketball by Time Warner Cable...

Court Approves MHSAA's Agreement for Payment of Damages Award

Posted on April 12, 2009
The Michigan High School Athletic Association is on the hook for $6 million dollars after federal courts determined that its scheduling of girls' sports in the nontraditional seasons violated Title IX and the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. MHSAA's various appeals kept the litigation going for over a decade, but the final chapter in this case closed last week when the district court approved the parties agreement over the details of MHSSA's payment of the damages and attorneys' fees to parents and their attorneys who filed the successful suit...

Court Dismisses Department of Education as Defendant in Single-Sex Education Suit

Posted on April 11, 2009
As you may recall from this prior post, some parents in Kentucky are challenging the legality of the Department of Education's regulations that allow schools to offer single-sex education. The parents (represented by the ACLU) sued the Breckinridge County Board of Education, which it alleges has violated Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause by offering sex-segregated middle school math and science classes that provide substantially unequal instruction to girls and boys...

New York High School Sued Over Antigay Harassment

Posted on April 11, 2009
Lambda Legal has filed suit against Indian River High School (in upstate New York) on behalf of Charlie Pratt and his sister, Ashley Petranchuk. The lawsuit alleges that Charlie suffered harassment and abuse at the hands of his peers while school officials failed to intervene...

Title IX Blog in the news

Posted on April 09, 2009
Ebuz--and the blog--got some press the other day in an article out of Birmingham that delved into what exactly President Obama was going to do with Title IX.No one knows of course. Most suspect he will not weaken the legislation as his predecessor did...

Thoughts on Training Rules

Posted on April 08, 2009
Unfortunately not ours as we have not yet been able to see the recently premiered documentary about former Penn State b-ball coach Rene Portland. (We hear it will be available for distribution this fall.)But Training Rules debuted this past weekend at the Philadelphia Film Festival...

NC county trying to comply

Posted on April 06, 2009
Not sure how reliable all the facts provided in this article are given that the writer(s?) thought that OCR stands for Office of Civil Review.It's probably true, though, that the county schools of New Hanover have a list of Title IX violations most of which relate to facilities...

Court Holds CA School District's Athletic Opportunities Violate Title IX

Posted on April 06, 2009
A federal district court in California has ruled in favor of plaintiffs challenging the distribution of athletic opportunities at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista. The court reasoned that the current 6.7 percentage point disparity between the percentage of athletic opportunities afforded to girls (38...

Congratulations future leaders!

Posted on April 05, 2009
We at the Title IX Blog offer our enthusiastic congratulations to our friend and fellow Title IX advocate Amy Wilson, a PhD candidate at University of Iowa. Amy was recently named, by NACWAA (National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics), one of five Administrators of Tomorrow...

UMass cuts skiing

Posted on April 03, 2009
In an attempt to deal with budget woes, University of Massachusetts has cut its men's and women's ski teams. The teams, which did not offer scholarships, will become club teams.Rumors swirled at the Amherst campus that it was baseball in jeopardy. But yesterday's announcement put those on the team at ease...

ACLU Settles With Sex Segregated Middle School

Posted on April 02, 2009
The ACLU backed off of its threats to sue Mobile County, Alabama, after the county agreed to stop its practicing of segregating the entire student body at Hankins Middle School by sex for all classes and activities. Under the settlement agreement, elective classes and nonacademic activities (such as lunchtime) are immediately re-integrated...

Kansas upgrading facilities

Posted on April 01, 2009
The University of Kansas, after undertaking an internal review on gender equity and review an external committee's report, has developed a master plan designed to improve the quality of women's athletics facilities at the university.A new and improved boathouse for the crew team debuted this year already...

Kutztown cutting programs

Posted on April 01, 2009
Administrators at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania have announced that they will be cutting two sports: men's swimming and men's soccer. They are calling it a proactive move meant to preserve academics. The decision to cut these two particular sports were made after an external study by consultant hired by the DII institution...

Columnist Examines Rihanna, Single-Sex Ed

Posted on March 31, 2009
A student columnist in the Cornell Daily Sun had an interesting take on the New York Times' recent piece on single-sex education. Author Ariela Rutkin-Becker uses the Rhianna/Chris Brown situation to demonstrate the harm in the messages sent to children when we separately teach boys to be tough and girls to be sensitive...

NCAA addresses pay-for-play questions

Posted on March 30, 2009
The NCAA has added to its website a piece that addresses frequently asked questions and frequently unasked for opinions on the issue of paying student-athletes.And Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University provides his own response to the NCAA's responses over at The Black Athlete Sports Network...

FGCU has a plan

Posted on March 26, 2009
After all the turmoil of the past couple of years, FGCU has a plan to "fix the root of its problems." It's a three-part process that actually does not seem to be much of a plan given that each of the three parts involves a lot of reviewing--and not a lot of action...

Indiana HS OK's Girl's Tuxedo

Posted on March 25, 2009
An update on the prom story we blogged about last week: Indiana's Lebanon High School has lifted its requirement that girls wear formal dresses to the prom. The ACLU had challenged the policy in court on behalf of a lesbian client who intends to wear a tuxedo in consistency with her sexual orientation and preferred gender presentation.

Cutting hockey in Minnesota

Posted on March 25, 2009
I didn't think they could actually do that--that it was protected by the state charter or something. But it's true and a sign of how bad things actually are--in case you missed the speech last night. A Minnesota state school is cutting hockey. Minnesota-Crookston has decided to end its DII program to save money...

SUNY Binghamton Athletic Department Officials Charged with Sexual Harassment

Posted on March 24, 2009
Thanks to the tip from a fellow attendee of the Sport, Sexuality and Culture conference in Ithaca last week, I learned about a complaint filed against SUNY Binghamton Athletic Department officials charging them with "egregious acts of sexual misconduct...

SCOTUS won't stop JMU

Posted on March 24, 2009
Equity in Athletics's attempts to stop James Madison University's elimination of 10 varsity sports has experienced an additional setback. The Supreme Court will not hear the group's request for temporary injunction that would mandate JMU reinstatement the teams until the issue is settled once and for all in court...

Urban girls and Title IX

Posted on March 23, 2009
Very good article from Women's eNews that focuses on the establishment of competitive girls double dutch in New York City.But importantly, the writer also points out numerous facts that often get lost when we talk about opportunities for girls and the enactment of Title IX...

ACLU Sues California HS for Enabling Homophobic Climate

Posted on March 21, 2009
The ACLU has sued the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in California for failing to address bullying and harassment targeting gay students at Corona Del Mar High School. Its primary example (alleged) involves three football players' threats of rape and murder, imbued with gay slurs, which were directed at a female classmate in January...

Adding competitive dance to achieve compliance

Posted on March 17, 2009
We haven't heard a lot about competitive dance teams being used to achieve compliance. Much of the attention has been given to competitive cheerleading at the collegiate level. But competitive dance falls into that same ambiguous category as cheerleading...

It's Prom Season Again, Bring on the Lawsuits

Posted on March 16, 2009
Every year around this time it seems we get to post about a student's lawsuit challenging a school district's gender-based prom policies. This year's lawsuit targets Lebanon (Indiana) School District, which has refused to allow a lesbian student to wear a tuxedo to her high school prom...

NY Times on Single-Sex Classrooms

Posted on March 13, 2009
The New York Times reports on the blossoming of single-sex classrooms in public schools, particularly in struggling schools in New York City where principals are looking for new ways to improve the learning experience and test results for their students...

Weatherford College to Survey Student Interest in Athletics

Posted on March 12, 2009
We have been following OCR's investigation into a complaint against Weatherford College in Texas that it fails to accommodate the interests and abilities of both sexes in compliance with Title IX. (For prior posts, see here and here.) Weatherford's athletic offerngs include one coed team (rodeo), men's and women's basketball, and men's baseball...

Western Washington Has Too Many Women's Sports After Cutting Football

Posted on March 11, 2009
In January, Western Washington University announced its decision to cut its NCAA Division II football program to help reduce the athletic department's deficit. While the university's records apparently show the program breaking even in 2008, university officials estimated that $10 to $12 million dollars would be required to sustain the program going forward, and considered such an investment unrealistic in today's economic climate...

Philly girls finally get championship

Posted on March 10, 2009
This story about girls' basketball in Philly really struck me. In the early 80s, a girls' basketball coach, Lurline Jones, said that girls should have a city championship like the boys who had been playing a city championship since 1938. (The championship was a match-up between the Catholic League and the Public League...

New retaliation case

Posted on March 09, 2009
In Washington a former coach has filed a lawsuit against the middle school that fired her. Terra Solkey, who coached girls' basketball asserts that she lost her coaching job when she started to raise some issues over the inequitable treatments of female athletes in her school...

Title IX discussion in Hartford

Posted on March 09, 2009
The Connecticut Historical Society is hosting a discussion Thursday night (March 12) entitled "Title IX: On the Court and Off. "The discussion, which begins at 7pm, is part of the society's She Shoots...She Scores exhibit currently on display (through January of 2010).

Loss of sports at Quinnipiac

Posted on March 06, 2009

Donna Lopiano to speak at Western New England College

Posted on March 06, 2009
Donna Lopiano, former head of the Women's Sports Foundation and amazing advocate for Title IX, is coming to Western New England College on April 22 to talk about her work and reflect upon the successes and challenges of Title IX.For more information about her talk, check out the website for the College's Center for International Sport Business: www...

Valparaiso to add two sports

Posted on March 05, 2009

NY Times on Girls in Baseball

Posted on March 05, 2009

Pepperdine to cut two sports

Posted on March 04, 2009

Mesa College and Other Division II School Are Adding Sports

Posted on February 28, 2009

Still more from FGCU

Posted on February 27, 2009

Changes in harassment law in just a decade

Posted on February 26, 2009
We have posted about the harassment experienced by Arkansas (former) high schooler Billy Wolfe, (here and here) who is engaged in a lawsuit against his former school district. That lawsuit is ongoing.But this article reminds us that there were very few avenues for students who were victims of sexual harassment when that harassment was of the same-sex variety...

Former Assistant Coach Sues Fresno State

Posted on February 26, 2009
Did you think we were done blogging about Title IX cases against Fresno State? Me too.But the Fresno Bee reported Tuesday that a new lawsuit will soon be filed by a former assistant track and field coach, Ramona Pagel. Pagel is a former Olympian and American recordholder in shotput...

Training Rules to Premier at Philadelphia Cinefest

Posted on February 25, 2009
A documentary about Harris v. Portland will premier at a film festival in Philadelphia next month. Here is the description of Training Rules from the filmmakers' website:Rene Portland had three training rules during her 26 years coaching basketball at Pennsylvania State University: no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians...

UNI drops baseball

Posted on February 25, 2009
University of Northen Iowa has decided to eliminate its baseball program. This news comes just days after University of Vermont announced that it would be dropping baseball and softball.The elinination will save UNI $400,000 and the remaining deficit will be made through cuts in travel budgets and not filling currently vacant staff positions.

Proposal Would Eliminate Sex Discrimination in Community Athletic Programs

Posted on February 24, 2009
A state legislator in Washington state has proposed a bill that would apply a Title IX-like nondiscrimination mandate to community athletic programs for children and adults. Since Title IX itself, which only applies to schools, does not cover community programs such as Little League, this new legislation would ensure that such programs provide equal access to equipment, supplies, facilities and the assignment of coaches and game officials regardless of the participants' sex...

Claims reinstated in high school rape case

Posted on February 24, 2009
As we wrote about not too long ago, the lawyer in a rape case involving a high school student in Upper St. Clair, PA recently filed a brief (in light of the recent SCOTUS decision) asking claims against administrators be reinstated.And last week a federal judge did indeed reinstate the Title IX claims...

The financial deterrent effect

Posted on February 23, 2009
The initial threat levied against schools not in compliance with Title IX was revocation of federal funding.It's a threat that has never been realized--never. As in never, ever.But financial repercussions are certainly being felt by colleges and universities as we have noted in cases such Fresno State, University of Colorado, and Florida Gulf Coast University in which institutions pay out settlements or jury awards...

UVM to cut sports

Posted on February 21, 2009
Probably not surprising that eventually we would report on sports being cut. With all the additions of sports, we were growing a little incredulous that athletic departments were actually feeling the economic downturn.But UVM's announcement that it will eliminate softball and baseball after this season included a lot about the need to deal with the budget crunch...

Article Advocates Title IX Approach to Olympic Games

Posted on February 20, 2009
In the current issue of the Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, attorney Susannah Carr argues that the International Olympic Committee should look to Title IX as a model for eliminating discrimination against female athletes in the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement more broadly...

Chronicle Projects Increased Title IX Enforcement in the Obama Administration

Posted on February 19, 2009
Gender equity advocates are optimistic about Title IX enforcement under the Obama Administration, according to an article in the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Though President Obama has not made specific statements about Title IX, he did single out the Department of Education for its "lax approach to enforcement" under President Bush...

More hockey in Wisconsin

Posted on February 18, 2009
One might think that Wisconsin probably doesn't need more hockey, but really--can there ever be enough hockey? Especially women's hockey?St Norbert College doesn't think so. It is banking on the regional popularity of the sport as it starts a women's team at their DIII (with football) institution...

WATN? Coach Roderick Jackson of Birmingham

Posted on February 14, 2009
In the spirit of WHB's "where are they now?" feature, I note that Roderick Jackson, the girls high school basketball coach who brought the successful and groundbreaking Title IX retaliation case against the Birmingham Board of Education, is back in the coaching game -- though coaching a different game...

Harassment Cases Roundup

Posted on February 13, 2009
Here is a quick round up of several Title IX harassment decisions that have recently come across the radar:Court of appeals affirmed district court's decision that a single instance of harassment was not sufficiently severe and pervasive for Title IX liability to attach...

More on Indiana baseball

Posted on February 13, 2009
As we noted the other day, the Indiana High School Athletic Association has changed its rule barring girls from trying out for baseball when their school offers a softball program--likely because of the legal pressures of Public Justice and the ongoing attention being brought to the association by repeated challenges to the rule...

Celebrate (and note the irony!)

Posted on February 12, 2009
Really cool event happening today down in Florida. Florida Gulf Coast University is playing host to former AIAW presidents who will gather for an event in which they will speak about their experiences in the organization and intercollegiate sports.Merrily Dean Baker will be there...

Player Sues Coach for Heterosexual Bias

Posted on February 12, 2009
Via Helen at Women's Hoops Blog, I learned about this recently filed lawsuit against Central Michigan State and its women's basketball coach, Sue Guevara. The plaintiff, former player Brooke Heike, alleges that Guevara, who was hired before Heike's sophomore season, dismissed her from the team and terminated her scholarship because she is heterosexual...

Former Athletic Director Settles with Georgia State

Posted on February 11, 2009
In December, Georgia State University dismissed its athletic director, Mary McElroy. McElroy, one of the few African-American female athletics directors at a non-historically black college or university, had served in the position since 2005 and was under contract until October 2011...

Update on Indiana Baseball

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) passed an emergency ruling allowing girls to try out for high school baseball teams, even if their schools offer softball. Public Justice, a public interest law firm, gets tremendous credit for filing a complaint that prompted the rule change...

College of Marin adding sports

Posted on February 09, 2009
I need to think of a new way to say "despite these tough economic times, _____ is adding sports." Because it's happened again and I am starting to wonder if we've now reached trend status.The College of Marin in California is adding two women's sports: softball and volleyball...

Worries over the WNBA

Posted on February 09, 2009
Feminist blogger Nancy Goldstein at Salon.com is expressing concern over the financial stress facing the WNBA these days.Due to the dissolution of the Houston Rockets and the mandated roster cuts on all other teams, the league is cutting approximately 20% of its players for the coming year...

Seeing effects of SCOTUS ruling

Posted on February 09, 2009
In light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, the lawyer of a female high school student in Pennsylvania, who alleges she was raped by a fellow student, has asked a judge to review previously dismissed claims made in the civil suit. There are not a lot of details on the case or the recently filed motion asking for the Title IX claims to be reinstated...

Russlyn Ali to Head OCR

Posted on February 07, 2009
President Obama has announced plans to nominate Russlyn Ali as the Department of Education's assistant secretary for civil rights (see also here). Ali, a woman of color, comes to OCR from a private, nonprofit research and advocacy organization, Education Trust, that works to promote education achievement generally with a particular focus on low-income and minority students...

6th Circuits Reinstates Plaintiff's Anti-Gay Harrassment Case

Posted on February 06, 2009
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned a lower court's dismissal of sexual harassment case against the Hudson Area (Michigan) Schools. The plaintiffs sued the school district on behalf of their son, DP, who had suffered ongoing harassment from sixth through ninth grade...

UAA gets an extension

Posted on February 05, 2009
University of Alaska-Anchorage was prepared for a cantankerous battle with OCR over a gender equity complaint filed anonymously in the summer of 2008. Athletic director Steven Cobbs was not too pleased with the complaint (and a pending OCR investigation) which he thought was groundless...

Happy National Girls & Women in Sports Day!

Posted on February 04, 2009
Today is the 23rd annual celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Here, via the NGWSD website, are 10 ways to commemorate the day:1. Buy a basketball, glove, soccer ball or other sport gift for your favorite sportsgirl - send her the message that you think she can play sports...

Serena praises Title IX

Posted on February 04, 2009
I don't get to write much about tennis here given that much of the tennis news comes from the professional ranks. So even though this isn't much of a story, I still wanted to mention that Serena Williams, who just won her 10th Grand Slam title down in Australia this past weekend (and in doing so become the highest-earning female athlete ever) gave a shout-out not only to Billie Jean King but also Title IX...

Breaking news: ASU settles

Posted on February 03, 2009
A case brought by a (now former) female student at ASU who was raped in 2004 has settled for $850,000--the second largest settlement in a sexual harassment case to date. The settlement also requires the Board of Regents to start a program at all the Arizona state universities to address issues of women's safety...

Wisconsin Court Says Cheerleading Is a Contact Sport

Posted on February 02, 2009
File the Wisconsin Supreme Court's recent decision in Noffke v. Bakke under examples of cheerleading's increasing acceptance as an athletic activity.Brittney Noffke was a high school varsity cheerleader who was injured while practicing a sideline stunt...

Ohio school district provides good model

Posted on January 30, 2009
In Ohio, the Middletown School District undertook a voluntary study of equity in athletics and found some things to fix. (I always question how "voluntary" some of these studies are, but it appears that administrators just wanted to get a sense of the state of things...

High School Coach Litigation Roundup

Posted on January 29, 2009
Several basketball coaches challenging discrimination in high school athletics have made news recently.Lamar Bryant, fired from his position as head coach of the Marshall High School boys basketball team in Chicago recently settled his wrongful termination/retaliation suit against the Chicago Public Schools...

Obama Signs Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Posted on January 29, 2009
Finally! After a Supreme Court decision invalidating her claim and a previous failed attempt to pass legislation that would allow her to sue for damages based on sex discrimination in the workplace, Lily Ledbetter got her due today.President Obama today signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, increasing the time frame for plaintiffs to bring cases alleging unfair pay based on sex discrimination...

Tuesday Title IX tidbits

Posted on January 27, 2009
In Indiana it appears that not too much has changed since the state's high school athletics association got a letter over a decade ago from the Department of Education about scheduling boys' basketball games. Girls' basketball, at that time, had 10.5 percent of their games scheduled on Friday nights...

Deconstructing Michelle Obama's arms

Posted on January 26, 2009
If you watched the inauguration last week, you likely had to hear all about Michelle Obama's fashion sense. We got regular updates on the designers she has worn as well as *gasp* off-the-rack clothing she sported during the campaign. And then there were the many comparisons to former first ladies...

Title IX Blog honors the memory

Posted on January 24, 2009
Title IX Blog honors the memory of Coach Kay Yow.

Tis the Season

Posted on January 23, 2009
On the heels of news about the New York City girls' soccer season moving to fall comes another story about girls' sports in nontraditional season. In Hazleton, Pennsylvania, an unnamed coach approached the school board of directors about the lack of winter sports for seventh and eight grade girls could violate Title IX...

Recesion hits Stanford athletics

Posted on January 22, 2009
Stanford has one of the most successful and largest DI athletics programs in the country. The school carries 35 varsity teams and produces more than its share of Olympians (like Kerri Walsh!).But it has not been immune to the recent economic downturn...

Breaking News: Supreme Court Holds Title IX DOES NOT PRECLUDE 1983 Claims

Posted on January 21, 2009
I have to teach in a few minutes, so for now I can only post a link --Reversing the First Circuit, the Supreme Court held today in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee that an available remedy for sex discrimination under Title IX does not preclude a plaintiff from seeking to remedy that sex discrimination by suing also (or instead) under 42 U...

The day after

Posted on January 21, 2009
Sports writer Sally Jenkins has a few things to say to Barack Obama, including reforming the BCS, as we mentioned yesterday--something she believes he can easily accomplish.No specific mention of Title IX, but number 8 on her list of requests is equal pay in women's sports...

Inauguration Day Post

Posted on January 20, 2009
Most of us Title IX advocates are hopeful about the new administration. Obama, from what he said during the campaign, seems to have a clue about what Title IX actually is. He has expressed concern with the survey method of discerning interest. Though, as we mentioned previously, we don't know much about what new Secretary of Education Duncan thinks of Title IX...

Football Hazing Incident Prompts Lawsuit, Invokes Title IX

Posted on January 19, 2009
A former high school football player and his parents have sued the Fairhaven (Massachusetts) School Committee and other defendants to challenge incidents of hazing that occurred at the hands of his teammates at a school-endorsed football camp in the summer of 2006...

NYC Schools Will Move Girls' Soccer to Fall

Posted on January 18, 2009
In response to threats of litigation by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York City Department of Education has agreed to moved the girls' soccer season to the fall. As we noted last spring, NYCLU was challenging the Department's adherence to a 28 year old tradition of girls' soccer in the spring on the grounds that scheduling a girls' sport in the nontraditional season violated Title IX...

News from Myles Brand

Posted on January 18, 2009
The NCAA concluded its meetings in Maryland the other day, but Myles Brand was not on hand to deliver the state-of-the-NCAA address. Earlier in the week it had been announced that Brand would miss most of the meetings because of an undisclosed illness...

Changing emerging sports

Posted on January 17, 2009
The NCAA has been meeting this past week on a myriad of issues, including women's emerging sports. Beach volleyball (which they are calling sand volleyball in an attempt to get greater interest; so if we call ice hockey frozen sheet of water hockey it could become, by this logic, less regional?) was up for consideration as an emerging sport but it did not receive the 2/3 votes required for such a distinction...

NCAA Study Examines Gender Gap in College Coaching

Posted on January 16, 2009
The NCAA has released a new report that addresses gender equity in college athletics. The report compiles responses to survey questionnaires that the NCAA administered to female student-athletes, coaches, administrators and aofficials in order to identify "factors that continue to influence women's careers, motivate women to seek careers in intercollegiate athletics, and to identify potential obstacles institutions may face in recruiting and retaining women in coaching, administration, and officiating postitions...

Whistleblower at Weatherford?

Posted on January 16, 2009
A few months ago we mentioned an OCR investigation at Weatherford College in Texas where opportunities for male student-athletes are double those for women even though women comprise 60 percent of the student body. Also in that post was news the Weatherford had recently acquired, for the first time, a full-time athletic director...

Lake Oswego HS Title IX Complaint Resolved

Posted on January 15, 2009
In response to a student complaint filed with OCR over the summer (which we blogged about here), Lake Oswego High School (Oregon) has agreed to make its deluxe video screening room accessible to girls' teams. Previously, the room -- outfitted with a flat screen TV and comfy couches -- was mainly used by the football team...

SUNY Stony Brook Settles Sex Discrimination Case

Posted on January 14, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that SUNY Stony Brook has settled, for undisclosed terms, a Title VII lawsuit filed by a female former physics post-doc. The plaintiff, Sherry Towers, had alleged that the university decided not to extend her fellowship contract after and in retaliation for her complaints about sex discrimination by her supervisor, John Hobbs...

Parents invoke Title IX during budget crises

Posted on January 13, 2009
College athletic administrators have long known that budget crises and consequent budget cuts have to be made equitably. And if it wasn't obvious before this current economic crisis, NCAA president Myles Brand made it clear a couple of months ago.Now it seems that high school administrators are learning the same thing...

More filings in bullying case

Posted on January 09, 2009
Last March, Erin wrote about a NYT profile of a victim of peer harassment in an Arkansas high school. The victim, Billy Wolfe, has since graduated from Fayetteville High School but there was, as Erin predicted there would be, a federal lawsuit filed against the school district...

Don't even think it--let alone write it

Posted on January 07, 2009
The Union Tribune in San Diego has stirred up a bunch o' trouble with a recent editorial by a sports writer calling for the elimination of football at San Diego State University. The program is economically strained and economically draining. Recently the university raised its student fee to cover some of the athletic department's budget deficits...

Stepping up to the plate

Posted on January 06, 2009
Who's stepping up to the plate? Me, this week, as the others are off in sunny CA conferencing.But also Logan Young, the Indiana teen who, along with her parents, filed a lawsuit against the Indiana High School Athletic Association which has a rule that bars girls from playing baseball when a school already has a softball team...

Changes to Ledbetter Imminent in New Administration

Posted on January 05, 2009
President-elect Obama and Democrats in Congress will give high priority to legislation that would overturn the Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire, yesterday's NY Times reported. In Ledbetter, the Court rejected that ongoing discrimination started a new statute of limitations every time it occurred...

Stories of the Year: 2008

Posted on December 31, 2008
In what is becoming an annual tradition, here is a roundup of the top ten Title IX stories of 2008! In no particular order...Florida Gulf Coast University was sued by two former coaches, Jaye Flood and Holly Vaughn, and the university counsel Wendy Morris, on claims that the university retaliated against all three women for trying to air concerns about Title IX violations in the athletic department...

Women Ski Jumpers Sue for Inclusion in Olympic Games

Posted on December 29, 2008
Though outside the scope of Title IX, the Title IX community may be interested in the pending lawsuit to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Some of my favorite women's sports blogs have been posting on this for a while, and All Things Considered covered it in its broadcast tonight...

Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal of Band Director Harassment Case

Posted on December 24, 2008
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed the district court's decision to grant summary judgment to the Hamilton Southeastern (Indiana) School Corp. in a sexual harassment case. Parents of a former student had sued the school district to recover damages under Title IX for a sexual relationship that their daughter had with an assistant band director, Dmitri Alano...

Transgender Student's Discrimination Case Under Investigation

Posted on December 20, 2008
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is investigating a discrimination complaint against Harrisburg Area Community College that was filed by a former student, Jamie Nicole Anderson. According to a href="http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/231603"this article/a about case, Anderson is a 42-year-old ex-Marine who had a 3...

Obama Taps Arne Duncan to Head the Department of Education

Posted on December 17, 2008
Yesterday President-elect Obama a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/12/16/16duncan_ep.h28.html?tmp=196136681"announced his pick/a for Secretary of Education: Arne Duncan, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. The Department of Education is charged with primary enforcement of Title IX, so Duncan have enormous influence with respect to policy and enforcement on issues of gender equity in athletics as well as single-sex education...

Vivas Case Settled for $5.2 M

Posted on December 16, 2008
Fresno State has opted to settle with former coach Lindy Vivas rather than continue to appeal the the trial court's decision in her favor. Last year, Vivas won a $5.85 million jury verdict in the Title IX retaliation suit she filed after she was fired for advocating gender equity within the athletic department...

Adding sports?

Posted on December 15, 2008
Columbus State University in Georgia seems to be throwing caution to the wind and adding sports despite these troubled economic times. The DII institution does not have a football program which might mean the school has a little more budgetary freedom...

More good booster news

Posted on December 13, 2008
Taking off of Erin's recent post about the Benicia High School booster club, I just thought I would mention this little piece of news about the Elk Lake (PA) school board. (Especially since there seems to be a lot happening lately in PA high schools regarding Title IX...

"It was never a money issue. It was a Title IX issue."

Posted on December 12, 2008
This is the explanation University of Delaware athletic director gave for his decision to cut men's indoor track and add (eventually) women's golf. Ironically, this statement follows on the heels of UD's announcement of its long-term strategic plan to revamp its athletic facilities...

Private Donors Give to Softball Field Project

Posted on December 11, 2008
Too often in our posts about booster clubs we bemoan that parents and community members create or contribute to discrimination in scholastic sports by supporting boys' teams more than girls'. So, it's nice to see that the Panther Foundation, a group of parents supporting athletics at Benicia High School, has pledged $50,000 to the school district to support the construction of two softball fields on the high school campus...

Title IX Litigation in Montgomery County, Georgia

Posted on December 10, 2008
From a reader, I learned of a Title IX retaliation suit that was filed in federal court recently against the Montgomery County (Georgia) Board of Education. The plaintiff, Christopher Bowman, was a teacher at Montgomery County High School until he was fired, he alleges, because he provided evidence to state officials of a sexual relationship between the guidance counselor, Carrie O'Connor, and a 16-year-old male student...

California School District Violates Title IX, OCR Concludes

Posted on December 09, 2008
No surprise here, but OCR has concluded that the Benicia (California) Unified School District is in violation of Title IX in light of its failure to provide athletic opportunities to girls that are equitable in quantity and quantity.As we have noted in prior posts, OCR's investigation commenced after an anonymous complainant alleged that female athletes at the high school were being treated unfairly...

More on Pittsburgh's history

Posted on December 09, 2008
In our post on the Title IX audit underway in the Pittsburgh school district, we mentioned there had been an investigation by a local paper many years ago that discovered some glaring gender inequities.Thanks to a loyal reader, we have the link to this investigation by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review and written by reporter Carl Prine...

Southern Nevado girls start soccer season

Posted on December 08, 2008
As we noted not too long ago, the Title IX lawsuit brought by the parent of a high school soccer player in southern Nevada was "settled" in that both sides agreed that the girls could play in the winter for another year. The school district has tried repeatedly to move girls' soccer to its traditional season--fall...

ISU seeking different outcome

Posted on December 05, 2008
Lawyers for Iowa State University have asked that the recent jury verdict against the school for retaliation against former softball coach Ruth Crowe be overturned. And if the judge will not agree to that, they would like a new trial.Those working on behalf of the university believe the jury did not decide the case based on its merits and that it did not understand Title IX...

SDSU raises fees to support athletics

Posted on December 04, 2008
San Diego State University has been contemplating for a while now a fairly dramatic increase in one of its student fees. An increase that would support their cash-strapped athletic department.When I first read about the story a while ago the increase was being presented as a way to fund an additional two women's sports that SDSU needed to add to meet the gender equity standards for CSU schools...

Dropped Teams Better Off as Clubs?

Posted on December 03, 2008
The NY Times had this brief article about collegiate club teams, which are providing competitive opportunities for athletes in sports that universities no longer decide to sponsor as part of their varsity program. A former Yale water polo player who now coaches the club team said he was initially upset about Yale's decision to drop the varsity program: "But now, I think the athletes are better off in the club model...

Fitzgerald Oral Argument Roundup

Posted on December 03, 2008
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Title IX preemption case, Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee. For background, see our prior posts on the district court's decision, the appellate court's decision, the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari grant, and a preview of the oral argument...

Pittsburgh schools will do Title IX audit

Posted on December 02, 2008
I thought we had written about this before, but apparently there are a lot of Title IX issues in Pennsylvania public schools--so it's easy to get confused.In what appears to be a collaborative effort, the nine schools in a Pittsburgh school district will start an internal Title IX audit...

Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee Oral Argument Tomorrow

Posted on December 01, 2008
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog has a comprehensive preview about the Title IX case that will be argued before the Supreme Court tomorrow.He points out that, though the underlying case is about some pretty egregious student-on-student sexual harassment, the Court is "unlikely to be distracted by the controversy" and will instead remained focused on the narrow legal question for which the Court granted cert, which is, whether the availability of legal remedies under Title IX foreclose plaintiffs from simultaneously raising constitutional claims via 42 U...

OCR Inquiry at Weatherford College

Posted on November 30, 2008
A Title IX "inquiry" from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has Weatherford College officials pulling together data, policies and procedures about its athletic department. No word on what aspect of compliance has put Weatherford on OCR's radar, but according to public data, this NJCAA member institution offers twice as many opportunities for male athletes as for female athletes...

Mistakes versus flaws

Posted on November 28, 2008
University of Delaware alum and current ESPN Page 2 columnist Jeff Pearlman has a column about the rumors regarding the cuts to men's track at UD. It's entitled "It's a mistake if Delaware cuts men's track, cross country."And it's a very well-written piece...

Haven't we heard this story already?

Posted on November 25, 2008
Another lawsuit is pending against the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) because of its rule prohibiting girls from trying out for baseball when there is a softball team.Another lawsuit? Indeed. As you might recall, last year a different Indiana high school student sued IHSAA for the chance to try out...

Former Iowa State Coach Wins $287K in Retaliation Suit

Posted on November 24, 2008
An Iowa state trial court jury awarded $287,000 in damages Friday to former Iowa State softball coach, Ruth Crowe. Crowe had challenged her termination as unlawful retaliation under Title IX, claiming she was fired for complaining to about inequitable compensation for most coaches in women's sports and about the university's failure to allocate comparable money for recruiting female athletes compared to male athletes...

School District Proposes Unified Booster Club

Posted on November 23, 2008
After a Title IX compliance report prepared for Mercer Island (Washington) School District revealed funding disparities between boys and girls athletics programs, the district's athletic director is proposing a partial solution in the form of a unified booster club...

Wrestling tries to save itself

Posted on November 22, 2008
Taking off on Erin's post yesterday about the tightening of athletic budgets...University of Missouri is trying to make itself a lttle less cut-able by funding its own scholarships. The team has been taking money from ticket sales and putting it towards a wrestling scholarship endowment fund...

NCAA President Seeks to Preempt Title IX Blame

Posted on November 21, 2008
NCAA President Myles Brand recently told USA Today that he expect that member institutions will cut athletic teams in the coming months due to financial pressures stemming from problems with the economy. He is encouraging member institutions not to cut teams and engage in a strategy of belt tightening in "highly visible sports" (read: football) instead...

Segregated Alabama Middle School Challenged by ACLU

Posted on November 20, 2008
Earlier this year, the Mobile County School System segregated the entire student body of Hankins Middle School by sex. This is the most drastic form of public school sex segregation to date, as it applies to an entire school, leaves parents with no option at all for coeducation, and according to the ACLU, "goes so far as to punish boys and girls who are caught speaking in the hallways...

If you're in the area...

Posted on November 19, 2008
Our area that is--western Massachusetts. Andrew Zimbalist is speaking tonight at Smith College, where he is a professor of economics.Here is the link. Here is a brief description of the talk:Andrew Zimbalist, sports commentator, consultant and author, will present a talk about the history, operation and impact of this landmark legislation...

NCAA Releases Resources and Model Policies Regarding Pregnant Student Athletes

Posted on November 13, 2008
As we noted last summer, the NCAA responded to concern for recent instances of discrimination against pregnant student athletes by deciding to employ an informational approach rather than regulation to assist its member institutions avoid violating Title IX's protections for pregnancy...

Simpson panel provides more details

Posted on November 13, 2008
In a vein similar to that of a post the other day on attorney Walter Paboojian, I wanted to mention briefly a panel discussion of the Lisa Simpson case that highlighted the role of supporters in Title IX cases--especially the cases that become pretty vicious...

Rumors of Possible Cuts at University of Delaware

Posted on November 12, 2008
It's just a rumor, but there is apparently some concern that the University of Delaware may trim its sports offerings to exclude the men's cross country and track teams. Title IX has, of course, entered into the discussion. Whenever one sex receive disproportionately more athletic opportunities than the other, Title IX effectively says you can't cut from the side with less (doing so brings you out of compliane with both of the alternative compliance prongs)...

Voice of reason at VCU

Posted on November 11, 2008
Because I spend so much time berating various media outlets and their misinformed employees when they proffer false information about Title IX, I figure it's my responsibility to offer some praise as well.Looks like we are not the only ones a little worried about the possible addition of football at Virginia Commonwealth University...

Fresno lawyer gets big kudos

Posted on November 10, 2008
Warren Paboojian who represented--quite successfully--some of the coaches who filed Title IX lawsuits against Fresno State, received the attorney of year award from the Consumer Attorneys of California, a trial lawyers' association, this past weekend...

(Somewhat) New anti-IX campaign

Posted on November 07, 2008
I'm in Denver at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) annual conference and I just ran into a colleague which reminded me that I had not yet posted about the interesting information she passed on to me a while ago. Fairness in Sports Foundation is not the most vocal of the anti-Title IX orgs out there, but they are a presence...

DI Schools Allocate Smaller Share of Athletic Budget for Women's Sports

Posted on November 05, 2008
Inside Higher Ed reported last week on the NCAA's recent update to its biennial gender equity report, which provides statistics on athletic participation and funding for women's sports. For the most part, college women's sports fared as well in 2005-2006, the years covered by the current report, as they had in 2003-2004, the last year for which the NCAA had published data...

It just could be a trend

Posted on November 03, 2008
Virginia Commonwealth University is thinking about adding a football team. Those who have advocated for such an addition see a potential opening coming their way. The current VCU president, who said he would never approve the addition of football, is leaving next summer...

Does OCR have an Alaska office?

Posted on October 29, 2008
Hope so, because they received a Title IX complaint about the University of Alaska, Anchorage this past summer. The complainant(s) remains anonymous for now and the athletic department is incredulous.Says Athletic Director Steve Cobb:"This complaint is mind-boggling to me...

V is for Victory. So is IX.

Posted on October 27, 2008
That's the great title of a new initiative by the Women's Sports Foundation to encourage girls and parents to think about what kinds of opportunities are afforded to male and female athletes at their schools. The page also features a couple of videos which are short, funny (but probably too close to the painful truth at some schools) and to the point: For parents: V is for Victory...

Obama, McCain answer questions on Title IX and women in STEM

Posted on October 25, 2008
Earlier this month the Obama and McCain campaigns answered questions presented to them by the Association for Women in Science and the Society of Women Engineers. The entirety of their answers can be found here. The questions are largely centered on how the candidates intend to achieve more gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including how Title IX might be enforced across the academy--and not just in athletics...

Teacher's Complaint Prompts Title IX Investigation, Changes to Facilities

Posted on October 24, 2008
The New Hanover (N.C.) County Schools, which had been under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights, recently agreed to upgrade athletic facilities and locker room for female athletes, who had been receiving inferior access in violation of Title IX...

A look into the gender gap in higher ed

Posted on October 23, 2008
Inside Higher Ed reported last week about a new study by Linda Sax that examines some of the nuances behind the numbers of women and men attending college. We know, of course, how the increase in the number of female students has affected athletics, increasing the number of opportunities for participation in sports--especially in those schools choosing to comply with the proportionality prong...

"if I had my choice of clients to represent, I would side with the plaintiffs."

Posted on October 21, 2008
That's what a lawyer for FGCU reportedly told its Board of Trustees at an August meeting to encourage the Board to settle with Coach Flood, Coach Vaughn, and general counsel Wendy Morris, who had all brought gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuits against the university...

Title IX Bloggers Publish on Jennifer Harris Case

Posted on October 17, 2008
With apologies for tooting our own horn, my co-blogger Kris and I are pleased to announce that the Journal of Sport and Social Issues has published our article about race and the Jennifer Harris case.Here is the abstract:In 2007 Penn State basketball coach Rene Portland retired shortly after a confidential settlement ended a discrimination lawsuit brought by former player Jennifer Harris against Portland and Penn State...

WIU using survey data

Posted on October 17, 2008
Cited for not providing opportunities to meet the needs and interests of its female students and not providing equitable amounts of publicity to its current male and female teams, Western Illinois University will be submitting evidence to explain these alleged disparities to the Office of Civil Rights next month...

The benefits of precedent

Posted on October 16, 2008
As Erin wrote yesterday, FGCU has settled three of the lawsuits it had on its hands. Pat Griffin's dubbing of FGCU as Fresno East certainly became even more appropriate with the news that FGCU had settled with former volleyball coach Jaye Flood, former golf coach Holly Vaughn, and former university counsel Wendy Morris...

School's Response to Teacher's Sexual Misconduct Did Not Violate Title IX

Posted on October 16, 2008
A teacher in Georgia showed students digital pictures of his genitals, but a federal district court concluded that the school's response was sufficient to forestall liability under Title IX.In February 2005, a teacher at Lamar County High School overheard students discussing that their history teacher, Tyshon Byrd, had shown them pictures of genitals that were on his cell phone...

$3.4 Million Is "The Price of Retaliation"

Posted on October 15, 2008
We just learned that Florida Gulf Coach University will pay $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by two former coaches, Jaye Flood and Holly Vaughn, who allege that they were terminated in retaliation for raising concerns about gender discrimination in the athletic department (more press about the settlement here and here)...

California Court Says Title IX Standards Apply to State Law Claims for Peer Harassment (but the Plaintiffs Win Anyway)

Posted on October 15, 2008
Section 220 of California's Education Code provides that students shall not be discriminated against on the basis of a number of protected categories, including disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. However, it is not clear on the face of this broadly worded statute when a school district violates this provision by failing to protect a student from harassment by his or her peers...

District Court Upholds Damages Award in Sexual Harassment Trial

Posted on October 14, 2008
Last August we blogged about a Title IX case against the Hilldale Independent School District in Oklahoma arising from the sexual abuse of the 14-year-old plaintiff by the band director. At that time, we noted that the case had survived the school district's motion for summary judgment and appeared to be headed for trial...

Column Examines Women, Hockey, and Sarah Palin

Posted on October 14, 2008
If you are as interested as I am in the rhetoric about sports, Title IX, and especially hockey (my favorite sport) surrounding Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice-President (which we've blogged about before), you may find interesting this column in the Beacon Broadside by the assistant women's hockey coach at University of Minnesota-Duluth...

Women's Sports Foundation Studies Gender Gap in Youth Sports

Posted on October 10, 2008
The Women's Sports Foundation released a new report today about youth sports, examining participation rates and trends across class, race, and geographic regions. Nationally, boys participate in youth sports at higher rates than girls. However, this gap is widest in urban, immigrant, and nonwhite communities...

Court Dismisses Trangender Plaintiff's Bathroom Complaint

Posted on October 09, 2008
A federal court in Nevada recently dismissed a Title IX case brought by the parents of a preoperative male-to-female transgender student (referred to in the decision as "Mary Doe") that challenged the school's decision that would have prohibited her from using the girls' restroom...

Arizona State May Be Liable for Rape by Football Player

Posted on October 07, 2008
In April we posted about a pending Title IX case against Arizona State stemming from a rape committed by a football player, Darnel Henderson, against another student. The plaintiff, identified only as J.K., sued ASU, alleging that in light of university officials' actual knowledge of prior instances of sexual harassment committed by Henderson, they acted unlawfully with deliberate indifference in failing to supervise him or take other corrective action that would have prevented his act of rape against her...

Bristol, PA School District Investigated for Title IX Violations

Posted on October 06, 2008
Booster-raised funds are at the heart of a recent complaint to the Department of Education that the Bristol (Pennsylvania) Borough School District is discriminating against female athletes in the allocation of athletic department resources like facilities, equipment and supplies...

Yale settles sexual harassment suit

Posted on October 04, 2008
Somehow we missed this story about an alleged incident of sexual harassment at the Yale School of Drama. A female student was dismissed from the school in 2005 and subsequently filed a lawsuit citing retaliation after she reported sexual harassment in the context of an acting workshop in which the instructor asked students to simulate masturbation as part of a class exercise...

Court Won't Throw Out Transgender Student's Prom Dress Case

Posted on October 03, 2008
Recently a federal district court judge in Indiana refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a Gary, Indiana high school's decision to prohibit a male-to-female transgender student from attending the prom in a dress. We blogged about the case here, after it was filed last December...

Retaliation Case Filed Against Texas Southern University

Posted on October 02, 2008
Another coach has sued her former employer alleging that she was fired in retaliation for speaking out against Title IX violations.Surina Dixon has sued Texas Southern University, alleging that they fired her from the head women's basketball coach position to which she had recently been hired after she insisted on contract terms equivalent to that of the newly hired men's basketball coach...

Title IX Fact Sheet for College Activists

Posted on October 01, 2008
The ACLU Women's Rights Project and Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) have collaborated to produce a new fact sheet related to a college or university's obligations to deal with sexual harassment, assault and rape, and the potential liability faced by educational institutions when they are deliberately indifferent to harassment and rape occurring in their educational programs and activities...

Two Sexual Harassment Cases Survive Summary Judgment

Posted on September 30, 2008
Federal district court judges have denied defendants' motions for summary judgment in two separate sexual harassment cases this past week, paving the way for factfinding by a jury in both cases.In Padula v. Morris, a district court in California held that the allegations by a female high school student that her male high school principal hugged her, "rubbed her shoulders and asked her what was the matter in the school hallway, and, during a disciplinary meeting, told her, 'I don't know whether to hug you or spank you' and then hugged her and swatted her on the buttocks as she walked out the door" were legally sufficient to constitute severe and pervasive harassment under Title IX...

Great Title IX Bibliography

Posted on September 29, 2008
Looking for a complete list of Title IX cases, statutes, regulations, studies, articles, books and websites? Check out this new Title IX bibliography by librarian Christine Hepler of the University of Maine School of Law.

College Class for Men Only

Posted on September 29, 2008
In Grant Lopez's speech class last year, he learned how to tie a double Windsor knot, had lunch with the college president and discussed what qualities to look for in a woman.That is the lead from this article in the San Antonio News about a men-only speech class at Northeast Lakeview College, which has recently come under criticism for offering preferential treatment for male students in violation of Title IX...

Add to the settlement column...

Posted on September 27, 2008
...former San Diego State University swim coach Deena Deardruff Schmidt.We can also add Schmidt to the million plus settlement club. SDSU agreed to a $1.45 million settlement in the case. Schmidt did not comment after the settlement was announced (her attorney called it a "fair and reasonable" result), but SDSU is patting itself on the back saying:?The parties agreed that this settlement recognizes the substantial efforts by Schmidt to implement, develop and improve the women's swimming program at SDSU, and reflects her contributions as a coach,? SDSU said in a statement...

Ex-Player Brings Homophobia Case Against SMU Coach

Posted on September 26, 2008
The Dallas News reports that a former Southern Methodist University basketball player, Jennifer Colli, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the university and head coach Rhonda Rompola. She alleges that Rompola questioned her and other players about their sexual orientations, and then revoked her scholarship when she complained to the athletic director about it...

"The Title IX Blame Game Should End"

Posted on September 25, 2008
...said Marj Snyder of the Women's Sports Foundation to the Wall Street Journal in an article about the Foundation's new study on college sport participation.Consistent with prior studies (e.g.), the WSF report concludes that both men's and women's participation has increased in the last 25 years, which itself should neutralize criticism that Title IX hurts men...

New facilities will resolve WI complaint

Posted on September 24, 2008
Resolution of a 2006 complaint filed anonymously regarding the situation at Arrowhead High School in Wisconsin is forthcoming. The OCR investigation of the complaint that alleged discrimination because the girls' field hockey team did not receive equitable resources compared to boys' teams at the high school...

Implications for Title IX In Transgender Plaintiff's Victory in Landmark Title VII Case?

Posted on September 24, 2008
Last week a federal district judge in D.C. held that the Library of Congress unlawfully discriminated against Diane Schroer when it rescinded the job offer made to her prior to learning of her plans to transition from male to female. The ACLU attorneys who represented Schroer advanced and prevailed on two theories to explain why she should win under Title VII, the federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex (among other categories, but not gender or gender identity)...

Fresno State adds lacrosse

Posted on September 23, 2008
In need of rectifying the disproportionate amount of scholarship dollars going to men and women, Fresno State has added--rather hastily it seems--women's lacrosse to its slate of intercollegiate sports. The decision was made last winter, and the season starts this spring...

OCR Finds Title IX Violations at San Diego Mesa College

Posted on September 18, 2008
The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights validated the premise of a discrimination lawsuit filed by two former coaches when it confirmed "substantial and unjustified" Title IX violations at San Diego Mesa College this week. The coaches, Lorri Sulpizio and Cathy Bass, sued the college in July, alleging that they were fired in retaliation for complaining about gender inequities within the athletic department as well as for their sexual orientation...

Busy guy...

Posted on September 17, 2008
...that Warren Paboojian of Fresno, California. He represented both Stacy Johnson-Klein and Diane Milutinovich in their Title IX lawsuits against Fresno State--successfully with both plaintiffs receiving either substantial settlements or jury awards. (Click the Fresno State tag for the whole Fresno State saga...

I stand corrected

Posted on September 16, 2008
Welch Suggs was nice enough to gently correct me regarding my concerns over the portrayal of the financial doings of the University of Tennessee athletic department. Or should I say athletic departments--plural. I was surprised--clearly--to learn that UT still keeps separate men's and women's athletic departments...

Basketball Star Age 12 and "Going on LeBron"

Posted on September 13, 2008
Two of my favorite blogs (see here and here) have already posted about Elizabeth Weil's profile in the New York Times of the 12-year-old basketball phenom, Jaime Nared. You may recall Nared from the controversy that erupted last spring after she was excluded from a private boys' league in Oregon because she always beat them (another of my favorite blogs covered that story, here)...

Oral Arguments Scheduled in Fitzgerald

Posted on September 12, 2008
As our regular readers know, the Supreme Court has a Title IX case on the docket this Term -- its first since Jackson in 2005. Earlier this week, the Court announced that oral arguments in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee have been set for Tuesday, December 2...

Settlement in Nevada

Posted on September 11, 2008
I really hope someone in this Nevada soccer seasons case gets a Title IX expert on board soon. Because I was shocked to read that the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) has settled with parent Eric Johnson of southern Nevada who claimed that moving girls' soccer (his daughter Emma plays) from the winter to the fall (when she plays volleyball, but when the rest of the state plays soccer) is a Title IX violation...

Oklahoma school paying attention

Posted on September 11, 2008
Administrators at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma say they are taking the recent Title IX complaint filed by two sets of parents of softball players very seriously. Moore school district superintendent Debbie Arato said she is thoroughly reviewing the complaint which lists eight points of concern by the parents, including inequitable facilities...

The (mis)management of information

Posted on September 10, 2008
Sometimes I am casually reading an article and have to just stop in disbelief. No, they can't possibly be saying what I think they are saying.Here is such a paragraph in an article about athletics at the University of Tennessee:University of Tennessee is different than most, however...

Oklahoma update

Posted on September 09, 2008
Thanks to one of the plaintiffs (who emailed us) in the case of inequities regarding the softball team at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma we now know a little more. There is both a lawsuit pending and a complaint filed with OCR. I suspect we will hear more about this soon.

Inequality in Oklahoma softball?

Posted on September 08, 2008
It's hard to believe that there are issues of equity in softball in the state of Oklahoma. I mean, Oklahoma, where the College World Series is held every year. It's a state that would seem to prize softball. But apparently the value the sport has at the collegiate level has not had a universal trickle-down effect...

Private School League Benches Female Kicker

Posted on September 03, 2008
Via New Moon Girls blog, I found this story from ESPN.com about Kacy Stuart, a female freshman at New Creation Center, a private high school near Atlanta, who was recently dismissed from her position as kicker for the school's football team, after a ruling by the private school conference to which New Creation belongs...

Governor Palin Supports Title IX

Posted on August 29, 2008
(Photo from Huffington Post. Palin is on the right.)Intrigued by the sports narrative that accompanied John McCain's announcement that he has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate -- we were immediately introduced to Palin the hockey-mom, coach, and former high school basketball state champion nicknamed Sarah-the-Barracuda -- I wondered what the newly-minted candidate thinks about Title IX...

Court Tosses Student's Lawsuit Challenging Low Grade Received From Female Professor

Posted on August 28, 2008
If you or anyone you know teaches in a Women's Studies department, this story will sound familiar:After receiving a D in English 111 course at Ivy Tech Community College in Gary, Indiana, student Richard Faloona complained to the administration that his female professor, Nancy Riecken, gave him a low grade because of sexism...

On the other hand

Posted on August 26, 2008
Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan attributes the success of the American women's teams in Beijing to Title IX.Too bad he keeps referring to the athletes as "ladies" in that way in which many male sports writers, thinking they are being supportive, are so condescending.

Title IX and the Olympics

Posted on August 25, 2008
You knew we wouldn't make it through an Olympics--even a highly successful one for the United States--without hearing about Title IX threatening the future of Olympic sports. This article in The Wall Street Journal is not entirely condemning of Title IX, but it does leave open the potential inferences by readers that cuts to men's Olympic sports happen because women's sports are "protected" by Title IX...

Professor Dees on Brown and Title IX

Posted on August 22, 2008
In the current issue of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, Professor Jermone Dees from Faulkner University's law school argues that integration of American universities following Brown v. Board of Education, rather than Title IX, has done more to increase collegiate athletic opportunities for African-American women...

Fourth Circuit Won't Enjoin JMU from Cutting Teams

Posted on August 21, 2008
Yesterday, a federal appeals court sided with James Madison University in its litigation with Equity in Athletics, Inc., the group challenging JMU's decision to cut 7 men's and 3 women's athletic teams in 2006. A federal district court in Virginia had already rejected EIA's efforts to obtain a preliminary injunction against the cuts, which EIA argues violated Title IX and discriminated against men, and yesterday's decision 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling...

More Iowa troubles

Posted on August 18, 2008
A University of Iowa professor has been charged with sexual harassment after asking female students (via email) for a chance to see and grope their breasts--in exchange for an A. This blog post, by Zuska, offers the cynical take that we here at the Title IX blog try to refrain from most of the time but do enjoy reading...

Nebraska-Kearney adds women's soccer

Posted on August 15, 2008
University of Nebraska-Kearney is adding women's soccer as a varsity sport in fall 2009. Though much of the discourse around the addition is centered on adding a sport that almost every other state university already has and the popularity of the sport in Nebraska high schools, the brief mention of Title IX and the fact that the university has not added a sport--any sport, men's or women's--since 1963, makes me think that providing equitable opportunities was more of a factor than the university is letting on...

Settlement Scuttled in WVU Tech Case

Posted on August 14, 2008
An odd development in the lawsuit by the WVU Tech softball players' Title IX case we blogged about in February: the players' lawyer has asked the judge to let him off the case because the players are refusing to sign an agreement that the lawyer believes reflects a settlement both sides had agreed to...

Nevada soccer dad update

Posted on August 13, 2008
On Monday soccer dad and assistant US attorney Eric Johnson brought his Title IX complaint before a federal judge who will rule today (this article says next week, though) on whether to issue a temporary restraining order against the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association to keep girls' soccer in the southern part of the state a sanctioned winter sport...

ESPN column breaks down intercollegiate soccer

Posted on August 12, 2008
Maria Ortiz Burns, a former intercollegiate soccer player, has written a good editorial at EPSNSoccernet breaking down the myth that men's intercollegiate soccer has suffered because of women's intercollegiate soccer. She begins with the basics: that men's soccer has not declined--the number of DI teams and the number of players per team has actually grown over the past two+ decades...

Nevada soccer dad headed to court

Posted on August 11, 2008
In April we wrote about an odd argument using Title IX to prevent a girls' sport from being moved into its traditional season.Seems that that soccer dad, who happens to be an assistant US attorney, has gotten his case to federal court this week. Eric Johnson filed suit against the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association and the county school district where his daughter plays soccer because they wanted to move girls' soccer from the winter to the fall...

Midland College Softball Team to Get Locker Rooms

Posted on August 08, 2008
Congratulations to the Midland College (Texas) softball team, who will finally have locker rooms and equipment storage at their practice facility starting next year. A local, city park serves as the home field for Midland softball, so the college had to get permission from the local Parks & Rec board to erect a $30,000 temporary structure for use by the college team...

Title IX "Update" in Vermont Bar Journal

Posted on August 07, 2008
Brian Porto, Esq., has published an article called "Halfway Home: An Update on Title IX in College Sports" in the current issue of the Vermont Bar Journal. Porto summarizes many of the current issues in Title IX law and policy, including the 2005 Clarification, the debate about proportionality and men's sports, and the recent trend in retaliation cases...

ACLU Files Suit Over Single-Sex Education

Posted on June 12, 2008
On behalf of students and parents in Kentucky, the ACLU is suing the Department of Education over the 2006 regulations that relaxed restrictions on single-sex education. This challenge arises in the context of a lawsuit over sex-segregated classrooms in the Breckinridge County Middle School, which the ACLU argues violate Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause of the U...

New (old) book

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Feminist Majority Foundation last year updated its 1985 handbook, Achieving Gender Equity through Education. Eleanor Smeal, president of the foundation and publisher of Ms. has written the forward to the new edition.More information can be found here on FMF's website...

Will Government Continue to Interfere in College Sports?

Posted on June 11, 2008
In the current issue of Journal of College and University Law, University of Massachusetts professors Todd Crosset and Lisa Masteralexis suggest that state regulation of gender equity in college athletics is "on the brink of change." They argue that sociologically speaking, the state regulates private associations only when certain conditions are met -- conditions which existed in 1972 when Title IX was passed, but are increasingly less relevant today...

Oregon Wrestlers File Suit

Posted on June 10, 2008
On behalf of the disappointed wrestlers at the University of Oregon, Equity in Athletics has sued the University of Oregon over its decision to cut wrestling when it added baseball last year.According to an EIA press release and SaveOregonWrestling.com, the state court complaint alleges that the University's decision to cut wrestling was procedurally flawed and that substantively, it violates the equal protection clause of Oregon's constitution as well as the state's antidiscrimination law, Section 659...

Supreme Court Will Resolve Circuit Split on Title IX's Preemption of 1983 Claims

Posted on June 09, 2008
The Supreme Court just announced that it will review the First Circuit's decision in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee. As you may recall from prior posts (see here and here) the dispute in this case was whether the school district responded adequately to the sexual harassment of a kindergarten girl by a third-grade boy who rode the same bus...

S.D. Harassment Case Survives Summary Judgment

Posted on June 07, 2008
In South Dakota, a teacher-student sexual harassment case survived the school district's motion for summary judgment. Consistent with other cases, the federal magistrate rejected the district's argument that other victims' complaints about this teacher in the past did not constitute actual notice of the teacher's harassment of this particular student plaintiff as a matter of law...

V-Ball Coach Weighs in on Lawsuit(s)

Posted on June 06, 2008
The College Volleyball Coach blog has a good post about the Tennessee-Martin case, putting it into context with the other volleyball coach lawsuits we've seen recently at Fresno State and FGCU. Among other fine points, the author surmises that until volleyball coaches have the bargaining power to negotiate employment contracts with "safety nets," like football and basketball coaches have, "Athletic Directors are able terminate volleyball coaches with very little cost...

Oregon Teacher's Retaliation Case Settles

Posted on June 06, 2008
A gender discrimination lawsuit between a teacher and her Oregon school district that we blogged about last fall settled this week for $20,000. The teacher, Celeste DeJong, had sued the Salem-Keizer School District, alleging that her after she reported harassment by her fellow teachers, she was retaliated against with unsatisfactory performance reviews...

Moving forward with women's wrestling at YVCC?

Posted on June 05, 2008
It seems that coaches and supporters of men's wrestling at Yakima Valley Community College are moving ahead with plans to add women to their team in the hopes of saving the men's program which was slated to be cut. [Click on the YVCC tag for past posts on this situation...

Gender gaps in math: A new study says it's nurture, not nature

Posted on June 02, 2008
New research published in the journal Science (subscription required to see full article) finds that any gender gap between boys and girls in math achievement "disappears" in countries with higher levels of gender equity. The research, reported in The Guardian (UK), looked at 40 countries, and found that those nations with equal access to education, as well as other opportunities and support for girls, showed no gender gap in math scores...

HS Golfer Awarded $19K in Discrimination Claim

Posted on June 02, 2008
Remember Lindsey Thomka? She's on the boy's only golf team at Cathedral High School in Springfield, Massachusetts, but in 2005, she wasn't allowed to compete individually in the state tournament for boys golf, despite finishing fourth in the regional qualifier...

More on the Gender Gap in Coaching Salaries

Posted on June 01, 2008
John Wolohan and Laura Bowman's article "Check Swing" (nice!) in the current issue of Athletic Business explores the legal issues surrounding the gender gap in coaching salaries, an issue that has been receiving some press lately.The authors examine the Equal Pay Act's applicability to coaches' salaries using as an example a lawsuit by Cara Hankinson, who sued the Thomas County, Georgia school district to challenge the salary she was paid as the softball coach, which was less than what the baseball coach was paid...

University of Tennessee-Martin Sued by Former Volleyball Coach

Posted on May 30, 2008
I read in USA Today that Amy Draper, formerly the head volleyball coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin, has filed a lawsuit challenging her termination as discriminatory and raising other violations of Title IX.Draper's complaint, filed in federal district court, alleges that the University and athletic department officials violated Title IX and other law (including the U...

Spotlight on Summa v. Hofstra University

Posted on May 29, 2008
A while ago, we briefly noted an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit against Hofstra University. We had only limited details to offer at that time, but we have since received a copy of the complaint filed by plaintiff Lauren Summa (thanks, reader!). We can now provide a more information about Summa's side of the story...

NCAA Releases Figures on Salary Disparities in Coaching

Posted on May 28, 2008
USA Today reported last week that 2006 salary statistics recently released by the NCAA confirms that people men who coach men's sports earn more than people who coach women's sports. And among schools with big time football programs, they earn way more...

Women's Wrestling in Demand at Colleges

Posted on May 27, 2008
Today's New York Times reports on the demand for college wrestling programs for women, driven in part by the inclusion of women's wrestling as an Olympic sport since 2004. The article notes that over 5,000 girls wrestled in high school in the 2006-07 school year, but that only eight colleges offer varsity-level women's wrestling teams, and that three of those eight have started in the last year...

Empirical Study on Gebser's Effect on Sexual Harassment Cases

Posted on May 23, 2008
In 1998, the Supreme Court held in Gebser v. Lago Vista School District that educational institutions could be liable for sexual harassment by its employees only when the institution responded with deliberate indifference to ongoing harassment about which it had actual notice...

Student Argues Against Title VII's Application in Title IX Sexual Harassment Cases

Posted on May 22, 2008
In an interesting Comment in the Maryland Law Review, student Michael Buchwald argues that, owing to statutory differences and contextual differences between education and employment, it is inappropriate to import Title VII's "severe and pervasive" standard for employer liability to harassment cases in the education setting...

AAUW Report Debunks "Boy Crisis"

Posted on May 21, 2008
The American Association of University Women released this study on Tuesday about gender differences in educational achievement. The study, titled Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education, examines girls' and boys' performances on national standardized tests and other academic indicators...

FGCU Files A Lawsuit of Its Own

Posted on May 21, 2008
The National Law Journal has this account of Florida Gulf Coast University's efforts to enjoin former general counsel Wendy Morris from releasing information about the university that it claims is protected by the attorney-client privilege. Morris, we've noted, filed suit against FGCU in April, claiming that she was discharged in retaliation for encouraging the President to investigate allegations of Title IX violations within the university...

What people are saying: Arizona State

Posted on May 20, 2008
Even as classes wind down and students head back from whence they came [unless you're on the softball team in which case you're headed back to campus to host a Super Regional (congratulations!)], the discussion at Arizona State over the recent athletic department cuts heats up...

NCAA Releases Report on Athletic Department Profitability

Posted on May 19, 2008
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last week that the NCAA has released a report on the finances of college athletic departments. The report is notable because it is the first time the NCAA has broken out "allocated" revenue (money the department gets from the institution itself) from "generated" revenue (money that it gets from outside sources, such as ticket sales and private donations) in reporting on the profitability of athletics...

Retaliation Cases Make Page 1 of USA Today

Posted on May 16, 2008
Tuesday's edition of USA Today raised the public profile of several retaliation cases we've followed extensively on the blog. The primary piece focused on the Fresno State plaintiffs -- Lindy Vivas, Diane Milutinovich, and Stacy Johnson-Klein -- whose lawsuits generated multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in the past year...

Henin and Sorenstam Retiring

Posted on May 15, 2008
Tennis star Justine Henin and golf star Annika Sorenstam both recently announced their retirements. The story was covered today on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, with the commentary that although the sports of tennis and golf will miss these two athletes, the advent and success of Title IX has ensured that there is no dearth of exceptional women athletes coming up through the ranks in these two sports (or a host of other sports, I would add).

NYT Profiles Women's Football

Posted on May 14, 2008
Women play football. If you didn't know that, read yesterday's New York Times.In fact, there are more than 80 tackle football teams for women, all across the country. Many are affiliated with either the Independent Women's Football League or the National Women's Football Association...

Arizona State budget issues lead to cuts

Posted on May 14, 2008
In an effort to fully fund and support its student-athletes and sports teams, ASU has decided to cut three sports: men's tennis, wrestling, and swimming. ASU had been carrying 22 sports--quite a few for a big-time DI program. Now they are down to 20 (they are keeping men's diving which had been combined with the swim team)...

Vaughn Joins Lawsuit Against FGCU

Posted on May 13, 2008
It is only our good taste that keeps us from keeping a little thermometer icon in the corner and raising the mercury every time someone files a gender discrimination lawsuit or complaint against Florida Gulf Coast University.The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice announced yesterday that former women's golf coach Holly Vaughn has joined Jaye Flood's pending lawsuit against FGCU...

The media support that Title IX doesn't really need

Posted on May 13, 2008
We comment on quite a few editorials that invoke Title IX. And we let, believe it or not, many just go by with a sigh and a shrug.But our very patient colleagues at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State have poured through three years worth (2002-2005) of editorials on Title IX in a recent study on how writers discuss and frame the law and its application...

NYT on Girls and Sports Injuries

Posted on May 12, 2008
The New York Times magazine devoted its main story this week to the rate of injuries for girls playing sports such as soccer, and how the injury rate is startlingly higher than that of boys. It's a long and interesting article that offers a lot to discuss, and this blog post is just a starting point for discussion of the piece and the issues that it raises...

Coeur d'Alene High Schools Violate Title IX

Posted on May 11, 2008
Last fall we noted that OCR had reopened an investigation against the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) school district after an anonymous complainant came forward with new evidence to support a previously dismissed claim of Title IX violations in athletics. We said, "the administrators in Coeur d'Alene seem confident this new information will not alter the initial finding of compliance...

McCain gets another "fact" wrong

Posted on May 10, 2008
Not much attention is being paid to John McCain's campaign these days. But occasionally we get to hear about some misinformation the Republican candidate for president has been perpetuating, usually involving some confusion over Iran versus Iraq. But this time he's really done it:The U...

PA whistleblower revealed

Posted on May 07, 2008
A few weeks ago I wrote about the then-anonymous Title IX complaint against Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania. The superintendent, Robert Laws, was somewhat confused over who would do this and why.Well all has been revealed. Robert Landau filed the complaint alleging inequities in facilities, practice and game scheduling...

OCR Investigation Clears Scotts Valley

Posted on May 06, 2008
In December we noted that the Office for Civil Rights was investigating alleged Title IX violations at Scotts Valley Unified School District in California. An anonymous person had complained that the high school was violating Title IX by providing female athletes, including softball players, with inferior equipment, facilities, scheduling and coaching...

Researchers Find Rampant Peer Harassment

Posted on May 05, 2008
The New York Times reported last week that more than a third of middle- and high-school students may be victims of sexual harassment by their classmates, according to a new study in the journal Sex Roles. The researchers also determined that sexual harassment takes an even stronger "emotional toll" on students than bullying -- a more visible and frequently-occurring form of peer abuse...

Title IX Sex Abuse Trial Underway in Texas

Posted on May 05, 2008
A Title IX trial commenced today in the federal district court for the Western District of Texas. The plaintiff is a former student at Bowie High School in Austin. He is suing the high school, the Austin School District, and a former color guard instructor named James Johnston, alleging that during the 2003-04 school year, Johnston made "made offensive physical contact" with him at the school and other locations, and that school district officials failed to protect him from this risk of which they should have been aware...

Conference in India: Save the Girl Child

Posted on May 03, 2008
Last week, India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare convened a national conference to "Save the Girl Child." Among the topics addressed at the conference were equal educational opportunities for girls and boys, promoting the physical and mental health of girls, and curbing the practice of sex-selective abortion (which is illegal in India, but practiced by some in order to abort female fetuses)...

Female Wrestlers' Discrimination Claim Dismissed for Lack of Notice

Posted on May 02, 2008
Now that last week's decision in the U.C. Davis wrestling case is available online, I can offer the fuller analysis I promised.The background, briefly, is this: In 2000, U.C. Davis decided that women would no longer be eligible to participate on the wrestling team...

Alhambra High School Softball Team Celebrates New Field

Posted on May 01, 2008
Four years ago, softball players at Alhambra (California) High School sued the Alhambra School District, challenging the disparity between their crappy softball field and the boys' new $900,000 baseball complex as a violation Title IX. After two years of litigation, the District settled, agreeing to construct a two new softball fields with "the same amenities and maintenance as the baseball fields" available to the boys...

New Study: Co-Ed Classrooms Benefit All Students

Posted on April 30, 2008
A new study conducted by Prof. Analia Schlosser at Tel Aviv University concludes that co-ed classrooms benefit both girls and boys by improving the classroom environment and the academic achievement of students.Schlosser, an economist from the Eitan Berglas School of Economics at Tel Aviv University, found that "both boys and girls do better when there are more girls in the class...

Male coaches feel "discrimination"

Posted on April 29, 2008
Women's Hoops Blog links to this article about the larger implications of the search for a head women's basketball coach at University of South Carolina. The writer turns it into a battle of the sexes--a battle that men are allegedly losing because they comprise less than 50 percent of the head coaches of women's intercollegiate basketball teams and because there seems to be a trend toward hiring women for head coaching positions over more allegedly experienced male coaches...

West Virginia Parents Sue for Gender Equity

Posted on April 28, 2008
Parents in Mercer County, West Virginia have filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the Board of Education, alleging that inferior athletic opportunities for female students at Princeton Senior High School violate Title IX. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that the complaint cites discrimination in the distribution of equipment and facilities like pitching machines and batting cages, uniforms, travel, access to coaching staff, and "other specific complaints...

Coach Jackson Fights On

Posted on April 27, 2008
After the Supreme Court confirmed in 2004 that Title IX prohibits retaliation against a coach who advocates for gender equity on behalf of his team, the defendant in that case, the Birmingham Board of Education, eventually settled with the plaintiff, former girls basketball coach Roderick Jackson...

Different fight for season change

Posted on April 26, 2008
In Nevada, a father of a high school soccer player has filed a suit attempting to prevent the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association from moving girls' soccer from the winter to the fall. Only the southern half of the state has girls' soccer in this non-traditional season and the NIAA has wanted to change this for some time now in order to create a state championship in which all schools can compete...

UC Davis Wrestling Lawsuit Dismissed

Posted on April 25, 2008
Until I can find a copy of the decision to read, UC Davis's press release is going to have to do...A federal judge has ruled in favor of the University of California, Davis, in a Title IX case filed by four women who wanted to be on the intercollegiate wrestling team...

NYC Schools Contemplate Fall Season for Girls' Soccer

Posted on April 23, 2008
In New York City's Public School Athletic League, girls' soccer is a spring sport. But parents, coaches, and gender equity advocates are urging the League to move the sport to the fall, the season it is played in the rest of the state. They have already complained to the Office for Civil Rights, and according to this article, a lawsuit may be looming...

Degrees of separation: Title IX and Lorena Ochoa

Posted on April 22, 2008
Lorena Ochoa is hot, hot, hot right now just having won her fourth LPGA title in as many attempts.But is she is product of Title IX? ESPN commentator Cindy Brunson believes so, or at least lead us to believe so when she compared Ochoa's post-Title IX accomplishments to Mickey Wright's record-setting four straight record that Ochoa tied this past weekend...

Danica Patrick Wins Indy Japan 300

Posted on April 21, 2008
Danica Patrick, a race car driver in a field overwhelmingly dominated by men, won the Indy Japan 300 on Sunday, becoming the first woman to ever win an Indy car race. The NY Times reports that Patrick had been a popular figure on the racing scene since she placed fourth at the Indy 500 in 2005, but that this victory had put to rest doubts that she could actually win a major race...

Another Lawsuit Filed Against FGCU

Posted on April 18, 2008
Florida Gulf Coast University is getting used to federal court. Yesterday it was named in yet another sex discrimination lawsuit, this one brought by former general counsel Wendy Morris, who was terminated last July.Morris's complaint alleges that she was retaliated against by the former interim president, Richard Pegnetter for urging the University to take seriously the charges of sex discrimination raised by emerita Athletic Director Merrily Dean Baker...

We Support Fair Pay

Posted on April 18, 2008
Today, our friends at National Women's Law Center are asking bloggers to help raise awareness about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which is currently pending in the Senate and is possibly up for a vote in the near future.As the AAUW recently reported, women still only earn 69 to 80 cents on the dollar for comparable work as men...

Horseplay or Sexual Harassment?

Posted on April 17, 2008
Under Title IX, schools must take reasonable steps to students from sexual harassment by other students. When applying this standard, courts are sometimes called upon to distinguish sexual harassment from other form of bullying, teasing, roughhousing, or horseplay that aren't motivated by the sex or gender characteristics of the victim...

URI makes cuts

Posted on April 16, 2008
As anticipated, the University of Rhode Island has been forced to cut teams to compensate for a large university-wide budget deficit. In addition to women's gymnastics which had already been told this would its last season, the university's athletic department has said it will also be eliminating women's field hockey, men's tennis, and men's swimming and diving...

ASU case under radar

Posted on April 15, 2008
Not too long ago we came across this post at the Huffington Post about a Title IX case at Arizona State University that we had never heard of despite its not-so-pleasant similarities to the case at University of Colorado. Ariela Migdal, in a piece about sexual assault and the campus climate, briefly mentions a case brought by a now former ASU student against the university but provides no details...

Pittsburgh Teachers Win $1.2 Million in Pay Discrimination Case

Posted on April 14, 2008
Last week a federal jury awarded $1.2 million to 12 female teachers who had sued their employer, the Elizabeth Forward School District, for discriminating against them on the basis of sex and age. The jury agreed that the plaintiffs were hired at the lowest pay grade even though they had experience from other school districts, resulting in a salary discrepancy between the plaintiffs and other comparably experienced teachers who were younger and/or male...

Confusion in Bucks County

Posted on April 12, 2008
The Superintendent of the Central Bucks County School District doesn't quite understand what exactly OCR is seeking in its investigation of the district's athletic departments*.An anonymous complaint was filed and OCR is collecting information. A representative will be meeting with the superintendent next week in an effort to resolve the complaint which centers on publicity, equipment, and scheduling...

FGCU Softball Coach Quickly Reinstated

Posted on April 11, 2008
We posted earlier this week about Florida Gulf Coast University's decision on Monday to suspend softball coach Dave Deiros after his player, Roz Tyre, complained that he grabbed her and yelled at her in a threatening manner. On Wednesday, it was announced that Deiros had been reinstated, despite the Athletic Director's acknowledgment that "placing your hand on a student-athlete?s chest protector is not acceptable behavior...

New CEO for WSF

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Women's Sports Foundation has named a new CEO. Karen Durkin who has been with the NHL most recently and the LPGA prior to that will take over the position from Donna Lopiano who resigned last summer.

Correcting the misinformation

Posted on April 10, 2008
It seems to be my purpose in life, or at least on this blog, to find all the bits of misinformation perpetuated by sport writers about Title IX, become quite irate and then correct them on this blog and often in a letter to the writer and/or editor.Sometimes they seem very little especially when the intent clearly is not malicious (though there are plenty of those cases too)...

ACLU Wants Greene County Segregation Plan

Posted on April 09, 2008
The ACLU is invoking a state open records law to request a copy of the plan to segregate schools by sex that Greene County, Georgia, abandoned last month. Because the county indicated that it would go forward with this or a similar plan in the future, the organization is concerned that the county is relying on stereotypes and "questionable 'brain science' theories that suggest that boys and girls should be treated radically differently...

More trouble at FGCU

Posted on April 08, 2008
Yesterday, Florida Gulf Coast University reportedly suspended Dave Deiros, head softball coach, after a player charged him with assaulting her at Saturday's practice. The player, catcher Roz Tyre, filed a complaint with the campus police claiming that Deiros twice grabbed her chest protector and shook her...

URI considering cuts

Posted on April 07, 2008
The University of Rhode Island decided recently to cut women's gymnastics citing the decrease in the the sport's popularity in the region. At that time it promised to add women's lacrosse in 2009. But recent budget issues (every university department is being required to scale back)have made that addition nearly impossible and it seems like cutting other sports is under serious consideration...

Retaliation Case Against Clark College May Proceed to Trial

Posted on April 05, 2008
Last week, the Washington state court of appeals reversed a lower court decision that had granted a summary judgment victory to Clark College (Vancouver, WA) in its litigation with former women's basketball coach, Trev Kiser. In 2002, Clark College terminated Kiser's contract...

Student Letter Defends Title IX

Posted on April 04, 2008
As Title IX fans, we admire people who challenge the ignorant and sexist rhetoric that is often used to demonize the law and women's equality in athletics. As professors, we love it even more when the people mounting that challenge are students. So we give a Title IX Blog tip o' the hat to Notre Dame sophomore John Witty (who, a google search reveals, hails from Iowa, one of our favorite states) for penning the following letter to his student paper...

Checking in with Billie Jean

Posted on April 04, 2008
Cokie Roberts has an interview with Billie Jean King in this weekend's USA Weekend magazine. They talk about the state of women's sports, Hillary Clinton, history and the future. Remember, the Sports Museum of America opens next month in Manhattan. One wing is dedicated to housing the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center...

The not so implausible joke

Posted on April 03, 2008
April Fool's Day came and went here at the Title IX blog. At least I thought it had until I started reading this article in the University of Buffalo student newspaper about officially changing the women's team nicknames to the Lady Bulls after years of just being the Bulls...

Discrimination hurts

Posted on April 02, 2008
And the hurt is going to be felt most acutely by the Michigan High School Athletic Association which was recently ordered to pay the legal fees associated with its decade plus-long battle against a group of parents who, among other things, asked that girls' sports be played in their correct seasons...

More Coverage of Sexual Harassment in College Sports

Posted on March 31, 2008
Athletic Business, a trade journal for the sports and recreation industry, examines sexual harassment in college sports in this month's issue. The article suggests that Title IX is increasingly becoming the vehicle not only for equal opportunity claims, but sexual harassment claims as well...

ESPN2 Airs Title IX Special This Weekend

Posted on March 28, 2008
"License to Thrive: Title IX at 35" is an independently-produced, one-hour special that "examines the unique history and impact of the Title IX legislation and celebrates the achievements, in numerous areas, of women and girls over the past 35 years. "This Sunday, March 30, it will air on ESPN2 at 1PM EST.

Georgia County Backs Off Single-Sex Education Plan, For Now

Posted on March 28, 2008
Last month we posted about Greene County, Georgia, and its plans to convert all of its public schools to a single-sex model.Recently, however, the County changed its mind, and will formally withdraw those plans at an upcoming meeting. According to the AP, the County faced "a groundswell of opposition from parents who were outraged that they weren't consulted ahead of time...

NY Times Profiles School Bullies' Victim

Posted on March 27, 2008
In Monday's New York Times, columnist Dan Barry published this profile of Billy Wolfe, an Arkansas tenth-grader who is constantly bullied by his classmates. He's been knocked out in shop class, decked in Spanish class, prank-called, presented with a list of 20 potential assailants, encountered anti-Billy graffiti scrawled in his textbooks, and was once the subject of a Facebook page called ?Every One That Hates Billy Wolfe...

New book on women and science

Posted on March 27, 2008
Published at the end of last year, Who's Afraid of Marie Curie?: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology, written by science writer Linley Erin Hall, addresses the many challenges women face in the field. Hall's book is aimed at a general audience and includes interviews with nearly 100 women who do or have worked in science, mathematics, technology, engineering, and medicine; studies about the "differences" in men's and women's abilities in the field, and, of course, the sociocultural pressures and barriers unique to women...

More on New Cheerleading Book

Posted on March 26, 2008
Following up on our post last week on the new book, "Cheer!" that follows three college teams vying for cheerleading's national championship, here's an interview by Salon.com with author Kate Torgovnick, where she discusses her views on cheerleading as a competitive sport and the gender stereotypes that are often attached to male and female cheerleaders...

Outside the Lines on Negative Recruiting

Posted on March 25, 2008
This week's episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines addresses negative recruiting in women's sports. In particular, the show covered how coaches exploit parents' homophobia to lure recruits away from teams coached by women who, especially when single, are vulnerable to the lesbian "stigma...

Movie Review: Kick Like a Girl

Posted on March 24, 2008
We received our copy of the new documentary, Kick Like a Girl, last week and popped in the DVD player right away. It was quite good. The star was definitely the daughter of filmmaker Jenny Mackenzie. She was quite precocious and very informed about issues of gender, as were many of the other girls on the team...

Softball field facelifts in Maryland

Posted on March 21, 2008
Though things may not be moving much on the softball fields in Charleston, farther north in Prince George's County, Maryland 17 of the county's 22 softball fields have undergone improvements in the past couple of years. The over $1 million spent on the fields is the result of the scrutiny the county received in 2006 over Title IX compliance related to facilities...

For my future source collection

Posted on March 20, 2008
Someday I'm going to write an article about competitive cheer. Meanwhile, I'll add this book to my future source collection: "College cheerleaders are extreme athletes who fly thirty feet in the air, build pyramids in which a single slip can send ten people crashing to the ground, and compete in National Championships that are won by hundredths of a point...

Increasingly, College Housing Offers Gender Neutral Option

Posted on March 18, 2008
The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday on the increasing number of gender-neutral housing options being offered by colleges and universities. The article focuses on pilot programs underway and in the works at Goucher College, UMBC, and University of Maryland College Park, while noting that around 25 colleges (UConn among them, we've previously noted) offer students a coed living experience...

Elsewhere in the blogosphere

Posted on March 17, 2008
David Cohen posts at Feminist Law Profs about Cal Poly's efforts to evade Title IX by sponsoring men-only engineering classes in Saudi Arabia.-and-At Womenstake.org, Neena Chaudhry of the National Women's Law Coalition reflects on the three-year anniversary of the Department of Education's 2005 Clarification, which allows schools with grossly inequitable particpation opportunities to satisfy Title IX using the results of a web-based survey of female students' interests and abilities.

Retention still a problem at FGCU

Posted on March 17, 2008
There has not been any news out of Florida about the pending lawsuits against Florida Gulf Coast University by former female coaches. We suspect news is forthcoming, however.There was an interesting development a few weeks ago, though, regarding the brand new golf coach...

University of Charleston Softball Field Draws Complaint

Posted on March 16, 2008
An alumna and former softball player at the University of Charleston (West Virginia) has complained to OCR about the University's lack of progress toward improved playing conditions for the softball team.In 2002, the University converted its softball field into a football field and moved softball to a city-owned park...

Wrestling at Washington community college saved--for now

Posted on March 15, 2008
Last month the board of trustees at Yakima Valley Community College delayed a vote on the potential elimination of the school's wrestling team. At that time, wrestling coach Mike Schmitt asked the board to consider adding a women's wrestling team to help move the college toward proportionality (currently the athletic opportunities for female student-athletes do not come near their 64% representation in the undergraduate population and YVCC apparently has a history with compliance that they are still trying to resolve)...

New documentary on mixed gender competition

Posted on March 14, 2008
A Utah woman who began coaching her daughter's soccer team several year ago has made a movie about her experiences. Kick Like a Girl was done by Jenny Mackenzie who, when her young daughter's team went unbeaten in her first season as coach, sought out teams that would provide a greater challenge: boys' teams...

Some Thoughts on Competitive Cheer

Posted on March 13, 2008
As we have written about in the past, the sport of competitive cheerleading exists at both the college and high school level. To be clear, "competitive cheer" is not the same as sideline cheer, which is, for Title IX purposes, a form of publicity and promotion...

Hogshead-Makar to help CU

Posted on March 11, 2008
As part of its multimillion dollar sexual harassment settlement last fall the University of Colorado agreed to hire a Title IX adviser and they filled that position recently with Title IX expert, author, law professor, and Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar...

Milutinovich is Woman of the Year

Posted on March 10, 2008
Former Fresno State associate athletic director Diane Milutinovich will be honored today by the California State Senate as Woman of the Year for the 16th district, the Fresno Bee reported. State Senator Dean Florez nominated Milutinovich for "her many contributions to women's athletics and her unwavering fight for gender equity in higher education...

Professor Brake on Title IX as "Pragmatic Feminism"

Posted on March 09, 2008
When not starring in award-winning ESPN reports, Professor Deborah Brake from Pitt writes law review articles about Title IX. Her most recent is called Title IX: A Pragmatic Feminism. It is available on SSRN. I'll let the abstract speak for itself:This paper uses Title IX as a vehicle for exploring the potential benefits of pragmatism for feminist legal theory...

Former UNR Coach's Whistleblower Complaint Dismissed

Posted on March 08, 2008
The Nevada state personnel board conducted a hearing last month to determine whether University of Nevada-Reno violated whistleblower protection laws when it fired the women's soccer coach Terri Patraw last summer. On Thursday, the hearing officer dismissed Patraw's suit, finding insufficient evidence that she was fired for reporting NCAA violations that are currently under investigation by the NCAA...

Perhaps this is the beginning of a trend?

Posted on March 08, 2008
Last week we posted about a female baseball player in Indiana winning the right to try out for baseball even though her high school has a softball team. Now, via the awesome Women's Sports Blog, we learn of a similar development in Nebraska, where the interscholastic athletic association recently voted to change its past practice of treating baseball and softball as equivalent sports...

Long Beach gymnasts win back their space

Posted on March 07, 2008
A federal judge has ruled that the folks at Wilson High School who moved the the gymnastics team and their equipment out of a dedicated facility at the high school to make room for aerobics equipment (for PE classes) and weights (to be used primarily by boys' sports teams--though why only boys are using weights is questionable but alas a post for another time) violated Title IX...

Harvard Tests Out Women-Only Gym Hours

Posted on March 07, 2008
In response to a request from several Muslim women students, Harvard is testing out having "women-only" hours at one of its campus gyms, the AP reports. The women making the request, with support from the campus women's center, sought the women-only hours (six hours a week, at the least used gym on campus) due to Islamic dress codes that encourage a level of modesty in dress while around men; the dress code would make it difficult or impossible to exercise at the gym in a co-ed environment...

Phys Ed Shown to Improve Academic Success

Posted on March 06, 2008
An article in USA Today reports on a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which shows that an increase in physical education classes in grade school can boost academic success, particularly for girls. This is interesting news given the trend in public schools to cut back on gym class to make the academic curriculum more rigorous for students...

Student Note Criticizes EADA

Posted on March 05, 2008
In 1994, Congress passed the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, which requires colleges and universities subject to Title IX to report information about the number of athletic opportunities it provides to both sexes as well as certain information about athletic department expenditures (and revenues) for men's and women's programs...

Conference of interest

Posted on March 04, 2008
The Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University will be holding a conference on sport and social justice in June. The Power of Sports Summit is open to scholars, activists, and those working in sport and for social justice (everyone from coaches to program coordinators/administrators) and will be held at NEU June 14 and 15...

Documentary on 6-on-6 b-ball

Posted on March 03, 2008
Attention readers in Iowa: Iowa Public Television is airing what looks to be a very interesting documentary on girls' six-on-six basketball in the state. The first airing of More Than a Game was last night but it will be rebroadcast at 8:15 p.m. March 7 and on March 16 time TBA...

New York Times on Single-Sex Education

Posted on March 02, 2008
The New York Times Magazine's cover story today is all about single-sex education. The article highlights the sharp growth in single-sex classrooms in public schools (one estimate in the article is that there were approximately 12 public schools offering single-sex programs in 2002, compared with approximately 360 today), citing a number of factors: the Department of Education's 2006 decision to promulgate regulations making it easier for districts to create single-sex classrooms without running afoul of Title IX; scientific research showing that males and females have different patterns of brain development, which some argue implicates a different learning style based on sex; the need for a more supportive environment for girls to become stronger leaders; and the sense that public schools are not doing enough to address the problem of boys failing out of school, and that perhaps single-sex education is worth a shot to see if boys' achievement improves...

Indiana girl gets baseball tryout

Posted on March 01, 2008
After being informed of its discriminatory ways, the Indiana High School Athletic Association has waived its rule that states that a girl cannot participate in baseball if the school offers softball. Baseball player Heather Bauduin is the impetus behind the waiver...

College Sports Council Cites Lack of Proportionality at Historically Black Colleges

Posted on February 29, 2008
The College Sports Council (no fan of Title IX) earlier this week released a study about Title IX compliance at historically black colleges and universities. The results: 73 out of 75 of HBCUs fail the proportionality prong of the three-part test. This means that for nearly all HBCUs, the percentage of athletic opportunities for women is lower, in some cases much much lower, than the percentage of women on campus...

Court Won't Dismiss Pay Discrimination Case Against Youngstown State

Posted on February 27, 2008
The federal district court for the Northern District of Ohio held last week that Sandra Denman, formerly the general counsel for Youngstown State, could proceed with her claims of wage discrimination and retaliation against her former employer.In September 2003, Denman analyzed the salaries of executive positions in the university and concluded that they revealed a pattern of discrimination against women...

Maine parent sues school district over teacher's sexual assault of her son

Posted on February 26, 2008
A lawsuit filed last week in the federal district court in Portland, Maine, alleges that the school district violated Title IX by not protecting the plaintiff's son from sexual assault by a female teaching assistant at the alternative high school he attended...

If you cheer louder...

Posted on February 25, 2008
...maybe you'll get a better grade.The University of Oregon recently elevated competitive cheer to varsity status but that has not helped its grade on the recently released Gender Equity Scorecard. Oregon earned an F and has found itself 97th among 115 colleges and universities (and last in the Pac-10) for its gender equity efforts...

Belmont Abbey College Faculty Challenge Exclusion of Contraception from the Health Care Policy

Posted on February 24, 2008
Update 2/25. We have heard that, contrary to the media report cited herein, the faculty and their counsel are not planning to challenge the college's contraception policy under Title IX. Rather, they have filed a complaint with the EEOC under Title VII, and they are challenging the school's policy under state law that requires insurers that offer prescription drug coverage to include coverage for contraceptives -- a law that, like Title IX, makes an exception for religious institutions...

Two Title IX Notes in the Wisconsin Women's Law Journal

Posted on February 23, 2008
The new issue of the Wisconsin Women's Law Journal contains two student-written pieces that address different aspects of Title IX.The first, by Madeline E. McNeeley, argues that educational institutions should do more to protect pregnant and parenting girls from discrimination, as the law requires...

Survey says? No baseball

Posted on February 22, 2008
In Michigan, the Gladstone Area Schools will not be adding baseball any time soon. Though there is interest in the sport, starting a program would further exacerbate the Title IX problems the district is having. They have not achieved proportionality which would mean adding baseball would mandate adding a girls' sport which, officials say, is not in the budget...

Parents Demand, Are Promised, Equity for Girls' Sports

Posted on February 21, 2008
?I guarantee you this.... From this day forward, if the girls are eating a bologna sandwich, the boys will eat a bologna sandwich.? This memorable quote was Raleigh County (WV) Superintendent Charlotte Hutchens's unequivocal promise for equal treatment for the female athletes at Woodrow High School...

Florida's Foley: Don't Blame Title IX

Posted on February 20, 2008
This month's issue of Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director features an interview with University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley. I was extremely pleased to read his take on Title IX:[SC&AD]: Depending on who you talk to, Title IX is responsible for cuts in non-revenue sports (like fencing, soccer, and wrestling) or Title IX is being used as an excuse by athletic departments to justify cutting non-revenue sports and reallocating that money to the big ones (football and basketball)...

Other voices in North Carolina

Posted on February 19, 2008
The coverage and commentary we have read thus far on the proposal to add a football team at the University of North Carolina Charlotte has suggested that there is near-unanimous support for the plan, though with a healthy amount of concern over where the millions of dollars it would take to do so would be coming from...

Slippery Rock cuts swimming

Posted on February 18, 2008
It's official. Slippery Rock University which, several years ago tried to cut women's swimming and diving and water polo but was prevented by a lawsuit, has done so. SRU was prevented from cutting these viable women's teams because it had not achieved proportionality and the court ordered that SRU must remain within two percentage points...

Softball Players Sue WVU Tech

Posted on February 17, 2008
Two softball players recently filed a Title IX lawsuit in federal court challenging the inequality of facilties, equipment, and funding for the West Virginia University Institute of Technology softball team. The plaintiffs, Terri Harrison and Alexis Cox, allege that WVU Tech reneged on its promise to install new lights, restrooms and locker rooms at the softball field, which it made last year to resolve a complaint the players had filed with OCR...

Entire Georgia County Moves to Single-Sex Schools

Posted on February 16, 2008
Even the National Association for Single Sex Public Education thinks that Greene County, Georgia, is going too far in its plan to convert the entire district to single sex schools by next fall. Hundreds of school districts have incorporated single-sex education into their curricula since the Department of Ed made it legal in 2006, but this is the first time the practice has been implemented county-wide...

Another Thing in Common

Posted on February 15, 2008
Fresno State and Florida Gulf Coast University have been compared for evoking similar claims of widespread sex discrimination in their athletic departments. So it is worth noting another thing they have in common. They both hired female head coaches this week...

Johnson-Klein Accepts Revised Damages Award

Posted on February 15, 2008
A brief update to last week's post about the choice confronting Stacy Johnson-Klein in the wake of a judge's ruling on Fresno State's post-trial motions: accept a revised damages award of $6.6 million in place of the $19.1 million the jury awarded her in December, or roll the dice with a new jury...

Pre-trial offers in Long Beach

Posted on February 15, 2008
Set to go to trial next week is the case involving the Long Beach United School District and the displaced gymnastics team of Wilson Classical High School. Brief re-cap: the gymnastics team's dedicated facility within the high school was taken away from them last year and turned into a weight room allegedly for everyone but others contend it will be used primarily for boys' athletics...

Two years, two complaints in Darien

Posted on February 14, 2008
OCR headed to Darien, CT for the second time in two years last week. In 2006 after a complaint filed by a parent of a female swimmer, OCR visited Darien High School only to find no problem with the swim programs but an issue with the number of opportunities female student-athletes were (not) getting...

Single-Sex Education Stereotypes Boys

Posted on February 13, 2008
After reading Professor David Cohen's "No Boy Left Behind: Single-Sex Education and the Myth of Essential Masculinity" I am more convinced than ever that the single-sex education craze prompted by the Department of Education's 2006 policy has already started to entrench harmful rigid stereotypes about gender that are harmful to boys as well as girls...

UW Must Defend its Handling of Student Rape by Football Player

Posted on February 12, 2008
Yesterday the Washington State Court of Appeals reinstated a Title IX case against the University of Washington, paving the way for UW to defend at trial whether its handling of a football player's alleged rape of another student violated Title IX.The plaintiff, referred in the opinion as S...

Changes in Morehead State's Athletic Department

Posted on February 12, 2008
In an effort to increase opportunities for female student-athletes, Morehead State University, is reconfiguring its athletic department. What is especially interesting is how they are going about this. At UNH, OU, JMU all we heard about were cuts, cuts, cuts and the allegedly disparate effect on men...