What do Title IX and COVID-19 have in common? A lawsuit!
In December 2020, the University of Iowa announced it would cut its men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis and men’s gymnastics programs starting with the next school year, claiming the hardship of the virus. The women were devastated.
“When Iowa cut the swim and dive team, that was the worst moment of my life,” said Sage Ohlensehlen, the women’s swim team captain.*
Team member Alexa Puccini agreed. She recalls the meeting at which the women heard the news.
“The coaches were lined up against the wall. The athletes, socially distanced, sat in chairs. Athletic director Gary Barta delivered the stunning news and left,” she said.
“It was very, very emotional. I just couldn’t believe it,” Alexa said. “It was such an awful experience.”**
A widening gap
Something about the cuts didn’t sound right to the women. This was a Title IX issue, not a Covid issue, they decided. Sage, Alexa and two other swimmers brought a Title IX lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, the women charged that UI didn’t have enough athletic opportunities for women even before Covid, and cutting their team created an even greater disparity. Women make up 53.56 percent of the student body, the lawsuit stated, but in the pre-Covid 2018-19 academic year only 50.77 percent of athletic opportunities were for women.
In the 2018-19 year, the lawsuit continued, the university committed $6.7 million to men’s athletic programs and $6.4 million to women’s athletic programs. That’s a ratio of 51 percent to 49 percent in favor of the men. Close but no cigar!
The lawsuit goes on to say that the gap in the number of male to female athletes stood at 47 athletes in the 2018-19 school year, a gap that grew to 92 athletes for the 2019-20 school year, and, with the cuts, an expected gap of 141 athletes.
Further, the women charged, the university failed to meet any of the criteria for Title IX compliance, including financial assistance, equipment and supplies, tutoring, locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, housing and dining and recruitment.
Gains and losses
For its part, the university said the cuts were necessary to compensate for the $75 million drop in revenue caused by lost ticket sales and other revenue because of COVID-19.
“In 2019, the Office for Civil Rights closed its investigation with no findings of any violation in the thirteen categories of Title IX. The university remains committed to staying in compliance with Title IX.
“In fact, impact on gender equity and Title IX compliance was one of the factors used to determine which sports to eliminate due to the fiscal financial crisis created by COVID-19,” the university said.***
The damage is done
Even so, the University of Iowa eventually settled the lawsuit. In February 2021, it reinstated the women’s swim and dive team and created a women’s wrestling program.
But because of the uncertainty of whether they’d be able to swim, many of the women had already made plans to transfer to other universities. Alexa Puccini, for example, is finishing her collegiate career at the University of Arizona. The lawsuit came in Sage Ohlensehl’s senior year, so she reaped no benefit from the decision, but she is currently studying law at Southern Methodist University Law School.
“The lawsuit literally led to me moving fourteen hours away because I wanted to be someplace where I wasn’t known as the girl who sued Iowa,” she said. “I lost a lot of friends, and I had relatives say rude things to me.”†
Her senior year was heartbreaking, she said, but she’s certain she and her teammates made a difference for other women.
“Because of our efforts , 70 MORE WOMEN will have the opportunity to compete as a division one athlete at the University of Iowa (35 swimmers/divers and 35 wrestlers). This result makes the hell that I’ve been through worth it,” Sage said on social media.
“I’m so happy that Iowa is taking these steps for equality,” she said,†† “and I’m hoping that this case will set a precedent for all other schools.”
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* Chloe Peterson, “Ohlensehlen, UI reach settlement in Title IX lawsuit,” The Daily Iowan (September 23, 2021).
** Erica Hunzinger, “Hawkeye swimmers wondered if Title IX suit was ‘going to work’,” AP (June 15, 2022).
*** Daniel Perreault, “Judge temporarily stops University of Iowa from cutting Women’s Swimming and Diving,” KWWL (December 3, 2020).
† “Ohlensehlen, UI reach settlement” and “Judge temporarily stops.”
†† Ohlensehlen, UI reach settlement.”
PHOTO: Sage Ohlensehlen (left) with unidentified teammate. I’m working on it!