News out of Delaware: the University has agreed to mediation in an attempt to obtain an Early Complaint Resolution. If mediation is unsuccessful (supporters of the men's track team have said the only satisfactory resolution is reinstatement) OCR will go forward with its investigation.
I have to say, I'm pretty surprised. While I agree that university officials should have been communicating more openly and more honestly about the situation, I don't know why they felt pressured into mediation, when it appears they have not violated Title IX. Again, if there are other civil rights issues present that could have triggered an investigation, we don't know about them.
And it seems the secrecy theme continues. Because both sides have signed a confidentiality agreement. So while many have been seeking greater candor, it does not seem that this will be forthcoming. It's unfortunate because it means those seeking explanations (and yes, we're curious too!) won't actually get them.
Tampilkan postingan dengan label track and field. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label track and field. Tampilkan semua postingan
Jumat, 29 April 2011
Jumat, 22 April 2011
Delaware athletes filed OCR complaint
There has been a lot of press about the cutting of men's outdoor track and cross country at University of Delaware since the announcement was made in January.
We haven't commented on it because it has been the usual blame game: blame on Title IX mostly, but also blame on administrators, and blame on the economy. None of it very productive.
But the news out today about the filing of an OCR complaint is quite interesting. The student athletes who were affected by the cuts have filed the complaint asking OCR to investigate whether there was gender discrimination involved in the decision to make the cuts. The athletes, and others, believe this is an instance of reverse discrimination.
We're a little surprised and concerned that OCR has said that it will indeed investigate the complaint--unless there's something more to the complaint that we don't know about. But Title IX protects the historically underrepresented sex. Men at UD have not been underrepresented in athletics.
Yes, it is lousy that such a storied program is being cut, and the manner in which it was done doesn't reflect too well on the university. But it isn't reverse discrimination. Equity in Athletics tried to make that argument (in the courts) in the JMU case and it didn't work there. We suspect it won't work here either.
We haven't commented on it because it has been the usual blame game: blame on Title IX mostly, but also blame on administrators, and blame on the economy. None of it very productive.
But the news out today about the filing of an OCR complaint is quite interesting. The student athletes who were affected by the cuts have filed the complaint asking OCR to investigate whether there was gender discrimination involved in the decision to make the cuts. The athletes, and others, believe this is an instance of reverse discrimination.
We're a little surprised and concerned that OCR has said that it will indeed investigate the complaint--unless there's something more to the complaint that we don't know about. But Title IX protects the historically underrepresented sex. Men at UD have not been underrepresented in athletics.
Yes, it is lousy that such a storied program is being cut, and the manner in which it was done doesn't reflect too well on the university. But it isn't reverse discrimination. Equity in Athletics tried to make that argument (in the courts) in the JMU case and it didn't work there. We suspect it won't work here either.
Kamis, 17 Februari 2011
Ex-Coaches Allege Retaliation by Diablo Valley College
Two former coaches at Diablo Valley College in California, part of the Contra Costa Community College district, are reportedly suing in federal court to contest their allegation that they were retaliated against for challenging the college's decision to terminate two women's teams last year. As we have earlier reported on this blog, the coaches complained both internally with the district and externally with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights that the cuts would violate Title IX due to the severe disparity in athletic opportunities for men and women. These complaints resulted in the reinstatement of all of the terminated teams, which include the men's and women's cross country, track, and tennis teams, but the coaches who had raised the Title IX issue were not rehired to their jobs.
As I told the reporter for this story, it is often challenging for retaliation plaintiffs to prove that the reason for the adverse employment consequences (here, not being rehired) was retaliation for complaining about discrimination, rather than for some other neutral purpose such as the financial or budgetary reasons DVC maintains. Therefore, it is significant that the coaches in this case allege that they were directly told by the athletic director that "there would be negative consequences for filing a complaint." If that evidence proves true, these coaches would prevail on what is usually the highest hurdle for plaintiffs in retaliation cases.
(N.B. In case the plaintiffs or their lawyers are reading this, please know that the aforementioned reporter had asked me about general background on the retaliation standard, not about the details of your case, which were not available to me at the time I spoke to him. Therefore, while I did tell him about the aspects of the retaliation doctrine that are generally most difficult to prove, it is entirely inaccurate to suggest, as he does, that I told him I thought you might have a "hard time" winning your case. I hope he honors my request for a correction.)
As I told the reporter for this story, it is often challenging for retaliation plaintiffs to prove that the reason for the adverse employment consequences (here, not being rehired) was retaliation for complaining about discrimination, rather than for some other neutral purpose such as the financial or budgetary reasons DVC maintains. Therefore, it is significant that the coaches in this case allege that they were directly told by the athletic director that "there would be negative consequences for filing a complaint." If that evidence proves true, these coaches would prevail on what is usually the highest hurdle for plaintiffs in retaliation cases.
(N.B. In case the plaintiffs or their lawyers are reading this, please know that the aforementioned reporter had asked me about general background on the retaliation standard, not about the details of your case, which were not available to me at the time I spoke to him. Therefore, while I did tell him about the aspects of the retaliation doctrine that are generally most difficult to prove, it is entirely inaccurate to suggest, as he does, that I told him I thought you might have a "hard time" winning your case. I hope he honors my request for a correction.)
Minggu, 30 Januari 2011
Bemidji State Cuts Men's Track
A brief note that officials at Bemidji State, a state university in Minnesota that is trying to execute a 10% budget cut institution-wide, announced that it is terminating its indoor and outdoor men's track teams. Officials acknowledged that the university is "well out of alignment, as far as Title IX" -- an explanation for why budget cuts focused on men's sports rather than women's sports or both. Track was also, apparently, expendable from a point of view of maintaining the requirements the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the NCAA Division II, to which Bemidji State belongs.
In case you're wondering what "well out of alignment" looks like, Bemidji's EADA data reveals 221 opportunities in men's athletics, 129 opportunities in women's, a 63% to 37% split at a school whose student body is 50% male and 50% female. Cutting the men's track teams brings the percentage of opportunities in men's athletics to 54%, which may not be considered close enough for proportionality, especially because it amounts to an absolute disparity of 24 women's opportunities, which is more that the size of many women's teams.
In case you're wondering what "well out of alignment" looks like, Bemidji's EADA data reveals 221 opportunities in men's athletics, 129 opportunities in women's, a 63% to 37% split at a school whose student body is 50% male and 50% female. Cutting the men's track teams brings the percentage of opportunities in men's athletics to 54%, which may not be considered close enough for proportionality, especially because it amounts to an absolute disparity of 24 women's opportunities, which is more that the size of many women's teams.
Kamis, 20 Januari 2011
Delaware to drop two sports
The University of Delaware announced this week that they will be dropping men's cross country and men's indoor track from its list of varsity sports in order to comply with Title IX. The two sports will have club status after this year.
The option to add more women's sports was not possible because of budgetary reasons, according to officials. Women's golf, however, will be added in the fall, as planned. (We wrote about that when UD cut men's indoor track.) With the reduction, DU will carry 21 teams, the most in its conference.
According to this editorial, DU cited Title IX 12 times in its announcement of the cuts. The past cuts (linked in the second paragraph) were blamed exclusively on Title IX, but this time DU is also citing economics. But editorialist Jeff Pearlman, an alum and whom we have also written about in the past, isn't buying that or fiscal responsibility given the low costs of maintaining the program and the plethora of football players on that team's 103-person roster.
With these cuts there is no longer any varsity running program for men at DU.
Addendum: Here is another article on the cutting of the teams that discusses the impact on the student-athletes and includes interviews with team members. Some of the runners are none too happy with Title IX. Others are not pleased that the administration has asked them not to talk to the media without prior discussions with the appropriate officials.
The option to add more women's sports was not possible because of budgetary reasons, according to officials. Women's golf, however, will be added in the fall, as planned. (We wrote about that when UD cut men's indoor track.) With the reduction, DU will carry 21 teams, the most in its conference.
According to this editorial, DU cited Title IX 12 times in its announcement of the cuts. The past cuts (linked in the second paragraph) were blamed exclusively on Title IX, but this time DU is also citing economics. But editorialist Jeff Pearlman, an alum and whom we have also written about in the past, isn't buying that or fiscal responsibility given the low costs of maintaining the program and the plethora of football players on that team's 103-person roster.
With these cuts there is no longer any varsity running program for men at DU.
Addendum: Here is another article on the cutting of the teams that discusses the impact on the student-athletes and includes interviews with team members. Some of the runners are none too happy with Title IX. Others are not pleased that the administration has asked them not to talk to the media without prior discussions with the appropriate officials.
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