The Supreme Court yesterday, without comment, "rejected
a petition by Brown University that sought to have a
controversial lower court decision requiring strict sex
equality in athletic programs overturned," according to
Biskupic & Nakamura of the WASHINGTON POST. The Supreme
Court's "denial of review in the case effectively means that
schools nationwide must ensure that the total number of
varsity positions for men and women match their overall
percentages in the student body." The action is "likely to
accelerate the trend among schools to scale back men's
athletics and pump up women's sports" to meet the sex equity
standard required by Title IX. To comply to the ruling,
universities and colleges "that receive federal funds must
either cut back or eliminate some men's sports, or add
women's teams," and schools "overall must provide athletic
participation opportunities in numbers that are
proportionate to the enrollment of men and women"
(WASHINGTON POST, 4/22). In a "series of rulings, five US
appellate courts have now upheld Title IX's strict demands
for equality in scholastic sports programs for men and
women" (John Farrell, BOSTON GLOBE, 4/22). USA TODAY
research found last month that "only" 28 of 303 NCAA Div. I
schools were in compliance with numerical parity between men
and women in their sports programs (USA TODAY, 4/22).
REAX: NBC's Tom Brokaw noted the "high court action
sets no legal precedent, but the practical impact could be
enormous, prompting many colleges to create more varsity
teams for women or face cuts in the men's athletic programs"
("NBC Nightly News," 4/21). In Boston, John Farrell: "Groups
representing women athletes hailed the decision, claiming
final victory in the long-running fight over Title IX."
Former Women Sports Foundation President Donna de Varona:
"It's the greatest single legal victory in the history of
women's sports" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/22). But in L.A., David
Savage noted "some men's coaches and college officials
called the ruling unfair to men because it means that more
of them could be denied a chance to participate in sports"
(L.A. TIMES, 4/22). UNC Senior Associate Athletics
Director Dick Baddour: "I don't know if there's another
sport we could add, to be honest" (NEWS & OBSERVER, 4/22).
