Eliminating Sports for Title IX Compliance

Darnell, Claire, Petersen, Jeffrey, JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

Equity in Athletics v. Department of Education

675 F. Supp. 2d 660

2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121275

December 30, 2009

On September 29, 2006, James Madison University (JMU) decided to eliminate seven men's sports and three women's sports in an attempt to bring the university's varsity athletic program into compliance with Title IX. The university stated that the decision was based on the first part of Title IX's three-part test, which holds that the gender makeup of the university's athletic program must be "substantially proportionate" to that of the university's undergraduate enrollment. The university considered and analyzed alternatives but deemed any additional sports beyond the university's current total of 28 teams unacceptable. By cutting the ten teams, the gender makeup of JMU's athletic program would better match the current 61 percent female and 39 percent male student enrollment, compared to the student-athlete composition of 50.7 percent female and 49.3 percent male at the time before the proposed cuts.

Individuals opposed to the cuts formed Equity in Athletics, Inc. (EIA), and immediately filed action against the Department of Education, the Secretary of Education, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, and the United States on March 19, 2007, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief that would void the allegedly unlawful guidelines and require new interpretations to be issued. At that time, EIA also requested that JMU defer the proposed eliminations until the challenge of the federal guidelines was complete. When JMU declined, EIA amended its …

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Publication information: Article title: Eliminating Sports for Title IX Compliance. Contributors: Darnell, Claire - Author, Petersen, Jeffrey - Author. Journal title: JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. Volume: 82. Issue: 2 Publication date: February 2011. Page number: 9+. © 2009 American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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