DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOL ATHLETICS
We’re leading the fight for gender equality for Pennsylvania athletes.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in federally-funded educational programs and requires schools to give women athletes equal opportunities and benefits. Pennsylania’s Equal Rights Amendment also protects against discrimination in athletics. By means of litigation and administrative advocacy to enforce Title IX and the ERA, we have significantly improved female athletic opportunities in Pennsylvania.
Young women in Pennsylvania schools deserve to be treated equally and to receive the benefits long accorded to their male counterparts in the athletic arena.
Schools with a history of failing to meet the requirements of Title IX must be monitored for compliance to ensure gender equity in athletic opportunities for girls and women. By actively monitoring Title IX compliance, we have gained unique insight into the strategies some schools use to attempt to appear, on the surface, to be in compliance with Title IX. These methods include the abuse of roster management and the inclusion of “ghost athletes.” We educate and inform communities about these practices in order to empower parents, coaches and citizens to track gender equity in athletics in their own schools.
In 2012, we were successful in having a law passed that requires middle and high schools to annually report athletic participation data by gender and race. Initial reports revealed gender disparities that underscore how important it is that Pennsylvania schools are required to submit this data, so that students, parents, coaches and the community at large can identify possible discrimination and ensure equality.
See Fairplay to learn where your school stands in complying with the law.
See A Guide to Gender Equity in Athletics in Pennsylvania Schools to learn how to assess whether your school is treating women and girls equally.
Notable Litigation:
Robb et al. v. Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, No. 4-17 CV-00964 (M.D. Pa. 2017) Co-counsel for student athletes challenging failure to provide female students with equitable varsity athletic participation opportunities. Resolved through enhancements to women’s teams and addition of three new women’s teams during the course of the litigation and in an agreed to Consent Decree.
WLP v. Bloomsburg Univ., WLP v. Clarion Univ., WLP v. IUP, WLP v. Kutztown Univ., WLP v. Lock Haven Univ., WLP v. Millersville Univ., WLP v. Shippensburg Univ. (Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Dept. of Education)( 2014). Complainant against member schools of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education alleging violations of Title IX’s equal athletic participation and financial assistance requirements.
Beattie v. Line Mountain School District, 992 F.Supp.2d 384 (M. D. PA 2014) Co-Counsel for plaintiffs in successful challenge to exclusion of female student from middle school wrestling team based on sex under the PA Equal Rights Amendment and U. S. Constitution Equal Protection Clause.
Foltz et al. v. Delaware State University, No. 10-149 (Dist. Ct. Del. 2010). Co-counsel for plaintiff class of female students at Delaware State University challenging the university’s failure to provide female students with equal opportunity to participate in athletics and to propose the elimination of the women’s equestrian team in the absence of compliance, successfully resolved by consent decree.
Choike v. Slippery Rock University, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49886 (W.D. Pa.) (granting preliminary injunction), 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57774 (Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Consent Order) Co-counsel for plaintiff class in Title IX class action challenging inequitable participation opportunities and treatment of female athletes at state university, settled by consent decree following court granting of preliminary injunction.
