A Title IX battle is brewing at San Diego State University. But the university and the students don’t agree on what the issue is.

            Last year, the university cut the women’s rowing team. It’s rationale? The university has more female athletes than male athletes, so it can’t stay in compliance with Title IX without evening the score.  

            But seventeen female athletes sued the university, saying the issue isn’t about the number of female athletes. It’s about scholarship numbers. They countered that the university isn’t providing an equitable amount of scholarships for women.

            The women’s suit claims that for more than a decade, SDSU has awarded scholarships unequally. Over the past two years, it says, the shortfall has totaled $1.2 million.

            “It is a sad day for the entire SDSU community that we have to sue the university to make it comply with Title IX and provide athletic financial aid equally to women and men,” said Madison Fisk, a former rower.*

What are the rules here?

            The university disagrees that scholarships are the issue.

            “The truth is that SDSU awards approximately 95 percent of all possible scholarships permitted under NCAA rules for both its men’s and women’s teams, with the remaining fraction explained by legitimate reasons within SDSU coaches’ discretion,” the athletic director said.**

            A university can comply with Title IX by providing “substantially proportionate” athletic opportunities that match the gender enrollment. For example, if 50 percent of the student body is female, then roughly 50 percent of athletes should be women.

            But what happens when the numbers don’t match when it comes to men? At SDSU, male enrollment increased from 41.3 percent in 2005 to 44 percent in 2022. Yet in 2019-20, only 37 percent of SDSU’s athletes were men.

            SDSU’s solution was to cut a women’s sport. The rowing team had about 65 participants and offered up to 20 scholarships.

Warning: more numbers ahead

            The women who filed suit include eleven former rowing members and six women from the track and field team who joined the suit in solidarity. Fourteen of the women currently are students, while three have graduated.

            The women aren’t contesting the team’s elimination, only the scholarship awards. From  2010-20, female athletes at SDSU were granted about $2 million more in athletic scholarships than men. But, overall, scholarships have been less per female athlete because of the higher number of female athletes.

            In school year 2019-20, for example, 58.1 percent of athletes (315 women) received just 50.6 percent of the $9.2 million scholarship pool, a deficit of almost $700,000, the lawsuit states.

Is this a first?

            When the women filed suit in February, they claimed that their action represents the first time a woman’s sports team has sought monetary damages from a school for violating Title IX.

            That could be true, but I’m looking into it. The more I learn about Title IX, the more gems I discover from the past. I know, for example, that the first lawsuit seeking compensation in a case of sexual harassment was in 1986. Christine Franklin sought $6 million in damages from the North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Georgia, after suffering a teacher’s sexual harassment. The case was settled out of court.

            Whether the San Diego women’s lawsuit is the first, it probably won’t be the last. According to data published by the Department of Education, 31.4 percent of NCAA Division I  athletic departments (109 of 348 schools) failed to meet the “substantially proportionate” standard in 2021.

            Even so, it’s the rare — and courageous — woman who dares to bring a lawsuit against her school.

            “No one goes to college planning to sue their school,” said Arthur Bryant, the women’s attorney. “The lesson of Title IX’s enforcement in 50 years, sadly, is if women want equality, they have to sue. No one else is going to do it.”***

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* Daniel Libit, “Female rowers sue San Diego State in First Title IX damages claim,” Sportico (February 7, 2022).

** Mark Zeigler, “Female athletes sue San Diego State for alleged Title IX violation,” San Diego Union Tribune (February 7, 2022). The NCAA caps the number of total scholarships a school can award per sport.

*** Dan Murphy, “San Diego State athletes band together in Title IX fight: ‘If women want equality, they have to sue’,” ESPN (June 14, 2022).

PHOTO: 2018 San Diego State University women’s rowing team