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SPORTS REINSTATEMENT SUCCESS STORIES
Assumption College Reinstates Track and Field Teams After
TLPJ Threatens Sex Discrimination Lawsuit
School Avoids Title IX Suit Over Elimination of Women's Teams
Assumption College women's track and field team members were prepared to go
the distance against sex discrimination in a Title IX lawsuit. Photo by
Richard Orr.
Assumption College of Worcester, Massachusetts has agreed to reinstate both
its men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams to avoid a sex
discrimination lawsuit threatened by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ).
In a demand letter dated May 10, 2005, TLPJ charged that the school's decision
to eliminate the women's teams violated Title IX of the Education Amendments
of 1972, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination by educational
institutions receiving federal funds. The school has now confirmed that it
will reinstate the teams.
"This is a great win for the athletes at Assumption College and everyone
who cares about gender equity in sports," said TLPJ's Leslie A. Brueckner,
who represented the team along with Sharon F. McKee and William T. Hangley of
Philadelphia's Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin. "We are delighted
that the school has agreed to immediate reinstatement of the teams. We were
confident that we were right on the law, and the school apparently
agreed."
In its demand letter, TLPJ explained that Assumption's decision to cut the
women's track and field teams violated Title IX's three-part test for
determining whether a university has provided "equal opportunities"
for members of both sexes to participate in sports. The letter stated that
Assumption failed the test because (1) women students at Assumption comprise
almost 61 percent of the student body but are offered less than 44 percent of
the athletic opportunities; (2) the school has not demonstrated a
"history and continuing practice" of expanding its women's sports
program over time because, with the exception of women's track and field, it
has not added a women's team for almost a decade and then, adding insult to
injury, decided to cut existing women's teams; and (3) the school cannot claim
that it is fully satisfying all existing female interest in sports because it
cut two viable women's teams that were ready, willing, and able to compete.
"Unless we are able to resolve the team members' claims without the need
for litigation," TLPJ's letter concluded, "we are prepared to file
suit."
TLPJ has successfully sued several schools, including Brown University, the
University of Bridgeport at Connecticut, Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
Temple University, and West Chester University , for illegally discriminating
against women in athletics.
Assumption announced its decision to cut the women's track and field teams in
January 2005, citing budgetary concerns. School officials stated that
Assumption could no longer afford to maintain the teams, despite plans to open
a new $3.2 million multi-sport stadium in Fall 2005. This decision shocked the
team members, who were anticipating a full competitive season in 2005-06. At
the same time, Assumption announced that it had decided to cut men's track and
field as well, also citing budgetary reasons. In its letter, TLPJ advised
Assumption that the simultaneous elimination of the men's teams did not
provide any defense under Title IX because the school remained in violation of
the three-part test for Title IX compliance. Three weeks after receiving
TLPJ's letter, Assumption officials announced their decision to reinstate both
the men's and women's track teams as fully-funded varsity sports.
"We are pleased that the school has agreed to reinstate both the men's
and women's teams," said Sharon McKee of Hangley Aronchick Segal &
Pudlin , co-counsel for the team. "Although Title IX only protects the
'underrepresented gender'– in this case, the women athletes at Assumption
– the school's decision to reinstate all the teams is a terrific result for
all concerned. We hope that Assumption will now turn its attention to creating
even more participation opportunities for women."
"I'm thrilled that the teams have been reinstated," said team member
Amie Nolan, who will be returning to Assumption as a junior next year.
"For months, we have been urging the school to reinstate the teams, yet
the administration has refused. I am happy and relieved that the school has
finally agreed to do the right thing."
In addition to Brueckner, McKee, and Hangley, the plaintiffs' legal team
includes Rebecca Starr of Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin. The demand
letter is posted on TLPJ's web site, www.tlpj.org. The school has also been
contacted by, and is in discussions with, the U.S. Department of Education's
Office for Civil Rights about its treatment of women athletes.
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is the only public interest
law firm dedicated to using trial lawyers' skills and resources to advance the
public good. Founded in 1982, TLPJ utilizes a network of more than 3,000 of
the nation's outstanding trial lawyers to pursue precedent-setting and
socially significant litigation. TLPJ has a wide-ranging litigation docket in
the areas of consumer rights, worker safety, civil rights and liberties, toxic
torts, environmental protection, and access to the courts. TLPJ is the
principal project of The TLPJ Foundation, a not-for-profit membership
organization headquartered in Washington, DC, with a West Coast office in
Oakland, California. The TLPJ web site address is www.tlpj.org. TLPJ's
Massachusetts State Coordinator is Robert J. Bonsignore, tel. (781) 391-9400.
Jan. 29, 2007
Washington State U. Athletics Experiences Change Since
Title IX
by Courtney Adams/Daily Evergreen/Washington State U.
(U-WIRE) PULLMAN, Wash. — Marilyn Endriss could not decide whether to tell
a big, burly, tow-truck driver why she and three other women were stuck in a
ditch between Pullman and Colfax, Wash., during a blizzard in January 1982.
It had something to do with how she was in Cougar Country, home of Washington
State University Cougar football. This man surely would be a fan, and she was
here to sue WSU for equal rights in men's and women's athletics.
Endriss decided to tell him, and to her surprise, he congratulated her. He
said it took courage to do what they were doing, and he had a daughter whom he
hoped would grow up to play sports at WSU.
Endriss had forgotten to recognize that men are husbands, fathers and
brothers, too, not just football fans, she said recently. People would support
what they were doing even 25 years ago.
Endriss and another lawyer had taken on a case in which a group of female
athletes and coaches sued WSU for damages, citing disparities in the treatment
and facilities for female athletes.
The Case
Title IX had been passed years earlier and anti-gender discrimination laws in
Washington were also passed, but treatment of female athletes were still
substandard, Endriss said.
Title IX was part of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that outlined how
equal funding of education applies to athletic programs at universities that
received federal assistance.
Mary Ellen Hudgins, head attorney for the athletes on the Whitman County
Superior Court case — Blair v. Washington State University — said they chose
to file under a sex discrimination law in the state instead of Title IX because
of the time it would involve in a federal case.
Hudgins and Endriss represented Linda Blair and 38 other female athletes and
coaches in the case. The complainants said WSU failed to meet standards of
equality between men's and women's athletics that were established under Title
IX and Washington state equity laws.
The consequences would reach farther than Washington because both Title IX
and state laws had largely been untested. No major suits had been filed until
then.
Schools across the country followed and filed suits in the years after to
rectify gender inequalities.
At WSU in 1982, men's and women's athletics had shared facilities, all of
which were under the jurisdiction of a male athletic director.
Hudgins presented a slide show of the facilities for men and women during the
trial. Endriss said the disparity between locker rooms, uniforms, fields and
scholarships was very apparent.
"Add it up and you definitely got a sense that women athletes didn't
even come up to a second-class status," she said.
WSU coaches and athletes, as well as athletic officials from across the
nation, testified.
WSU contended that the state of athletics was because of high-public-interest
sports such as football and the big-business atmosphere of those sports.
Attorneys for the university also cited men's sports that received unequal
treatment compared to basketball and football. They said women were not the only
athletes with grievances.
Amy Cox, a former field hockey player, testified that she had tried to
reconcile the issues before the trial. She had spoken with then WSU President
Glenn Terrell, the Board of Regents, ASWSU and state officials.
"Terrell originally wanted to talk to women athletes, but when we got to
his office, he couldn't remember who we were," Cox told The Daily Evergreen
in 1982.
Advisers were too busy with male athletes, field hockey team members said,
and administrators ignored a 1979 proposal calling for a reallocation of funds
for athletics that was signed by 2,500 students, Cox told the Evergreen.
The Verdict
Judge Philip Faris announced the verdict in March of 1982. He found unequal
treatment between men's and women's athletics, but it would be another year
before appeals to the Whitman County Courthouse would cease and a decision about
the damages would be finalized.
The athletes were awarded damages for costs they incurred while at WSU.
They received compensation for practice equipment, practice and game uniforms,
awards and travel expenses. It was approximately $100,000 in damages.
"I'm glad it's finally settled. I think we've all been hanging in limbo
for quite a while," Marcia Saneholtz, associate athletic department
director, told the Evergreen in January 1983, more than a year after the judge
announced the verdict.
One issue that was crucial to the case was football, Saneholtz told the
Evergreen. Some men's sports run like a business and needed special
considerations.
"Judge Faris actually indicated that he did not want to be the death of
the sacred cow that would be the death of Cougar football," Endriss said.
The verdict recognized that football is unique and its income was left out
of negotiations for the damages awarded.
Football was exempt but, in 1987, the state Supreme Court overturned Faris'
decision and ruled that football was no longer exempt from calculations of
scholarship and participation numbers.
Progress Since the Decision
Starting in 1988, all women's programs were funded to NCAA scholarship
standards and women's recruiting budgets were increased.
Women's soccer at WSU started in 1989, and a lobbying effort in the state
Legislature started to generate support for achieving stronger equality.
Crew was added as a women's sport in 1990 and full-time staff was hired. In
1991, WSU initiated a major project to build an addition to Bohler Gym and
renovations that would provide equitable facilities for all student-athletes.
Construction began in 1997.
Though the changes were slow since Title IX's passage in 1972, they are now
apparent, Endriss said.
In 1982, 71 percent of the athletes at WSU were men, now they constitute 54
percent of athletes — of 443 athletes, 237 of them are women, said Bill
Stevens, WSU assistant sports information director. In 1983 there were 548
athletes, and 154 were women.
Endriss said that just by looking out at a soccer field on a Saturday, she
can see more women playing.
The fact that women are playing at a young age is a step, she said. Women
play sports just as much as men now and many of the disparities have been
erased.
Now colleges have to provide equal facilities for men's and women's sports,
she said.
Judge says Slippery Rock must reinstate
women's sports
Updated 7/31/2006 12:05 AM ET
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Slippery Rock University must reinstate two women's sports
it cut for budget reasons because the school is not complying with a federal law
requiring equal opportunities for female athletes, a federal judge ruled.
The university in January announced it was cutting eight sports to save $350,000
— including women's field hockey, water polo and swimming — as part of an
effort to erase a $2 million budget shortfall. The school later decided to keep
field hockey, but members of the women's swimming and water polo teams
challenged the cuts in a federal lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose found university President Robert Smith was
wrong not to consider compliance with Title IX, a law requiring schools that
receive federal money to provide equal sports opportunities for men and women.
"Knowing that SRU was not compliant with Title IX, Smith nevertheless
decided not to consider Title IX compliance in determining which teams to
eliminate," Ambrose ruled.
Slippery Rock officials declined to comment Monday and referred questions to the
state attorney general's office.
A spokesman for the attorney general, Nils Frederiksen, noted that Ambrose said
her ruling could change if the university can demonstrate Title IX compliance in
the future.
"It's not a permanent issue and we expect it will be revisited in the
future, although it's unclear when that will be," Frederiksen said.
Beth Choike, 20, of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., was the lead plaintiff in the
lawsuit. Choike, who will be a junior, was captain of the swim team and also
played water polo, and receives a partial scholarship for both sports.
"I never lost hope and I never stopped fighting for it," Choike said
Monday. "We're reinstated for the next year and I know my teammates and I
are very pleased."
The school, which also cut men's swimming, water polo, golf, wrestling and
tennis after the school year ended, had argued in court that it tried to be fair
in deciding which sports to cut.
Smith used spreadsheets including financial data for the school's 23 teams, and
other information, including how competitive the teams were and their academic
performance, before deciding which teams to cut.
Smith testified that a major reason the water sports were cut was that the
teams' pool needed $1 million in renovations. But James Yeamans, the coach of
the women's water polo and swimming teams, testified the facilities are
comparable to competing schools and that another pool on campus could have been
used for the teams.
The university said it also implemented a roster-management plan in March to
address Title IX concerns. Under the plan, the number of roster spots on men's
teams would be cut from 271 to 240 and spots on women's teams increased from 235
to 288 to provide proportional opportunities for women.
But Ambrose found the plan was just a "paper increase." For example,
the school planned to upgrade the women's club lacrosse team to a varsity squad
with 24 roster spots — even though the club team had only 17 players, and none
expressed an interest in joining a more demanding varsity program.
"SRU could simply designate the 'addition' of these positions without
actually expecting that they be filled," Ambrose said.
Susan J. Frietsche, an attorney at the Women's Law Project who represented the
students, said that tactic "signals that this was not the school's good
faith response to the expressed interest of its students."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2006-07-25-slippery-rock_x.htm
MONTCLAIR, N.J. --Montclair State University announced
today that its wrestling and men’s lacrosse sports teams would be reinstated
as varsity athletic programs, starting with the fall 2005 season.
The University’s decision to reclassify the programs came as a result of a
successful joint effort on the part of MSU and its many supporters across New
Jersey to raise the private funding needed to strengthen and sustain the
University’s intercollegiate sports program.
In addition to reclassifying two of the five teams that were downgraded to club
status early in the year, the new funding will enable MSU to hire full-time
coaches for women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, and wrestling, along with an
additional athletic trainer.
“The outpouring of support for our athletic programs is extremely
gratifying,” said Dr. Susan A. Cole, University president. “It was
heartfelt, spontaneous anediately begin nationwide searches for the new
full-time sports personnel.
The University had announced in late January the reclassification of five of its
21 athletic programs from varsity to club status. These teams included
wrestling, men’s lacrosse, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s cross
country. University officials said that the change was necessary to maintain its
tradition of excellence in the face of severe fiscal constraints.
1/09/03
Dartmouth College brought a ray of hope to my life this
morning as I read the headlines on Letsrun.com . This fall officials at
Dartmouth decided that its overextended athletic department needed to be
trimmed down and so they got rid of their swim programs. However, with the
efforts of a lot of alumni support, a thoughtful administration, and a few
hundred protesting students the decision to cut swimming at Dartmouth was
overturned yesterday. For a more detailed account of what happened at
Dartmouth to save the program use
this link, the rest of this writing will be used by me to once again make
a case for saving our own sport at UVM using Dartmouth’s effort as an
example.
With the wealth and prestige that comes with an Ivy
League school like Dartmouth it is not surprising that UVM simply can’t keep
up with its neighbor just down interstate 89. Dartmouth has an undergraduate
class of less than 5000 students and yet funds one of the most comprehensive
sports programs in the country with 34 varsity sports. This is far beyond what
UVM fielded even before the cuts from last year with a much smaller student
body.
Though a few years ago UVM was referred to as “public
ivy”, the Burlington institution has been struggling to keep up with that
distinction. UVM competes against Dartmouth teams often in many sports, though
Hockey is the only sport where both schools appear on the same conference
roster. Even so it seems like UVM is always trying to measure themselves
against Dartmouth. This might not be a bad thing, Dartmouth is a fine
institution both academically and athletically and UVM would do well to show
folks where they measure up to and in some cases even surpass Dartmouth.
A good start to following in the footsteps of Dartmouth
for UVM would be to reinstate the Men’s Track and Field teams. If the cases
are compared they appear remarkably similar. UVM like Dartmouth was strapped
for cash in an athletic department that is quite vast, and so UVM decided to
announce cuts which would take the school into the future. Parties at both
schools rallied around the cut teams and tried desperately to get their
respective administrations to rethink their decisions. Massive alumni support
was offered in both Hanover and Burlington, and there was much discussion at
both schools about the cuts and what could be done about them. Unfortunately
that is where the similarities appear to end.
Dartmouth officials who explained that the cuts were about money problems pure
and simple were more than happy to reverse the decision to cut the swim
programs when a suitable fundraising plan to continue the sport was suggested.
UVM officials who came to the table with no clear or defensible reasons for
the “restructuring” that took place could not be swayed by things such as
Alumni/ae support, a proven record of athletic and academic success, and a
high in state student participation rate.
Dartmouth’s story is a happy one for people like me who
have seen schools such as St. John’s, Bowling Green, and Tulane cut sports
teams within the past year. It casts a ray of hope that somewhere in the world
of college administrations there are folks willing to listen to the students
of both the past and present in order to reach an agreeable middle ground.
When the cuts were announced at Dartmouth there was one of the largest student
protests in recent memory with 600 students gathering together in support of
the cause. That is something we didn’t try at UVM but if it could make a
difference we might just try it since reasonable discussion seems to have
failed.
Respectfully,
George Deane
Washington Reverses Decision on Dropping Swim
Program
Task force will review proposed goals for UW and
community swimming.
Aug. 29, 2000
SEATTLE, Wash. - Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges
announced today that she has reversed her decision to drop men's and women's
swimming as a varsity sport following the conclusion of the 2000-2001
season. The announcement to drop the program was made on July 27 after an
evaluation of the program.
At the time of the announcement, Hedges stated the reasons behind
dropping the program were an inadequate and outdated swimming facility on
campus, a lack of community support for the program, the inability to
attract the top swimmers in the state of Washington to the University and
the competitive disadvantage as a result of those factors.
"In the last month, it has become very apparent that there is
interest in retaining this program, not only from the people in the Seattle
area, but around the State of Washington," Hedges says. "I have
heard from many of them. I also have had productive conversations with Dave
Coddington, chair of Pacific Northwest Swimming.
"As a result, Northwest Swimming has made a commitment to support
the University of Washington swimming program, to assist us in encouraging
the most outstanding in-state swimmers to attend the University, and to join
with the University in our desire to build a state-of-the art training
facility.
As part of its commitment, Northwest Swimming will assist the University
to establish a task force on swimming. The focus of the task force will be:
A. Identifying a site and funding plan for a new Husky training facility.
B. Enhancing swimming opportunities for children, particularly
underrepresented minority children, and
C. The retention of in-state swimmers
"The task force will involve University and community leaders, and
hopefully city and state leaders," Hedges says. "As a result of
these goals, I have agreed to reinstate the sport of swimming. In a
reasonable period of time, and with the proper community support, we will be
able to accomplish the goals that I have outlined."
"I am elated at this decision," says Husky swimming coach Mickey
Wender. "I do believe that Washington can be a top swimming program and
these goals, if accomplished, will allow us to do that. There have been a
lot of people in the swimming community who rallied behind our program in
the past few weeks and I appreciate all of their efforts. I look forward to
their continued support and commitment to allow the Husky swimmers, and the
youth in our community, to achieve their goals in this sport."
Wednesday, August 30, 2000
By ANGELO
BRUSCAS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The University of Washington men's and women's swimming teams won't be
terminated after all, athletic director Barbara Hedges announced yesterday,
reversing her one-month-old decision to eliminate swimming as a scholarship
program.
"In the last month, it has become very apparent that there is interest
in retaining this program, not only from the people in the Seattle area, but
around the state of Washington," Hedges said in explaining her reversal
about the fate of the program.
The main issues, according to Hedges, were a perceived lack of support for
swimming, inadequate and outdated facilities on the UW campus, and the
inability of the UW to attract the top swimmers in the state to keep the
program competitive. But Hedges was swayed by an outpouring of mail, e-mail,
and an all-out appeal by the swimming community at large.
"We have to have the support of the community and the state,"
Hedges said. "We do not want to just have a swimming program. We want to
have a competitive program at the University of Washington."
In saving the program, Hedges announced a new partnership and task force
would be formed with Pacific Northwest Swimming, the group that represents
youth club swimming across the state. The intent is to raise $15 million to
$20 million to build a new 50-meter practice pool for the UW team, while
continuing to hold competitions at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal
Way.
While Hedges' reversal wasn't enough to keep three promising freshmen
recruits and sophomore Jenny Cray from going elsewhere, the news was well
received by those who helped in an all-out lobbying effort to persuade Hedges
to change her mind.
"One of the big issues that we were all concerned with was the effect
that something like this would have on Northwest swimming programs," said
Rick Colella, an All-America swimmer for the Huskies from 1970-73 and a 1976
Olympic bronze medalist. "It would not only affect college-level
swimming, but it would affect the other swimming programs to not have college
swimming to look up to."
The UW men's program started in 1932, and the women's program began in
1975. Over the years, the team has trained in a six-lane, 25-yard pool built
in 1937. The pool does not have a diving well, and the UW consequently does
not have a diving team.
Since 1979, when the Pac-10 Conference expanded to its current number of
schools, the UW swim team has placed in the top five at the conference
championships only once (fifth in 1996). Last year, 48 swimmers shared the
equivalent of 23 scholarships.
Colella suggested that the lack of a modern pool has hurt the UW in efforts
to retain some of the best swimmers in the Northwest.
"We're hoping that can come around," he said.
In addition to Colella, the UW claims five other Olympic swimming medalists:
Jack Medica (1936), two-time NCAA champ Robin Backhaus (1972), Doug Northway
(1972), Rick DeMont (1972), and Lynn Colella (1972). This year, the Huskies
sent 11 swimmers to the Olympic trials in Indianapolis.
The Huskies have been coached the past two years by Mickey Wender, 33, who
has complied a 10-10 meet record with the men's team and an 18-6 record with
the women's team since replacing 29-year veteran coach Earl Ellis in 1998.
Reached by telephone on vacation in California yesterday, Wender was thrilled
that the questions now centered on a new practice pool, rather than the death
of his program.
"I think a training facility is going to be an unbelievable
advantage," he said.
When he first had to spread word about the end of the program to his
swimmers, Wender said it was like telling them about a death in the family.
Now, he's got better news to spread.
"I'm sure they're going to be ecstatic about the reversal,"
Wender said.
The new task force formed to save the program will have three main
objectives: identify a site and funding plan for a new practice pool; enhance
swimming opportunities for children; and retain in-state swimmers at the UW.
Dave Coddington, chairman of Pacific Northwest Swimming, said his
organization represents about 5,800 swimmers, ranging in age from 5 to 18. He
pledged his organization's support in steering swimmers into the UW program
and helping to build the new training facility.
He also said his group would begin seeking help from the Legislature and
from Seattle-area corporations.
The idea is to find money for a training facility with a 50-meter pool
without seating that also can be used for advanced research in sports and
swimming, as well as physical therapy. Sites both on and off campus will be
considered.
Although she didn't back away from the issues that originally caused her to
cancel the program, Hedges said her mind was changed after hearing of Pacific
Northwest Swimming's pledge to support the program and begin fund-raising
plans for a new pool.
"So I seized the opportunity," she said. "I believe now that
there is the possibility to build the training facility. There is a
possibility to have an outstanding swimming program at the University of
Washington. I did not believe that before."
Hedges and the UW athletic department are in the midst of a $90 million
program to renovate or build five new facilities, including a rebuilt Hec
Edmundson Pavilion, new baseball field, a soccer stadium, renovations to the
Conibear Shellhouse, and an indoor practice facility.
Asked why the swimming pool was left off the list of projects, Hedges said
there did not appear to be widespread support for the program.
"I perceived that student-athletes simply were not staying in the
state of Washington, and it just did not make sense to continue a program in
which we could not provide them an opportunity," Hedges said.
She acknowledged, however, that she never let the swimming program, its
coaches and athletes make a case for survival before the initial decision was
reached.
P-I reporter Angelo Bruscas can be reached at 206-448-8010 or angelobruscas@seattle-pi.com
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DROPPED
TEAMS

2006
Women's Lacrosse Team

Swimming
and Diving
and

Track
and Field
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