Court orders Eastern Michigan to reinstate women's sports teams, citing Title IX violation

A lawsuit filed by two female athletes against Eastern Michigan has resulted in a court order to reinstate the women’s tennis and softball programs at the university.

Ariana Chretien, a softball player, and Marie Mayerovo, a tennis player, sued the university after the programs were cut alongside men’s swimming and diving and wrestling amid budget concerns.

Judge: ‘Clear showing’ of a Title IX violation

A U.S. district court ruled on Thursday that Eastern Michigan must work to reinstate the women’s programs with Judge George Caram Steeh citing “a clear showing that (Eastern is) in violation of Title IX,” The Detroit Free Press reports.

The cuts left Eastern Michigan with 10 women’s programs and seven men’s programs in the athletic department, impacting 58 male athletes and 25 female athletes. But the number of sports for women athletes still did not reflect the school’s student-body makeup.

According to The Free Press, a 2017 university report showed that 59.4 percent of the student body was female while 40 percent was male. In contrast, 56.1 percent of the student athletes on campus were male, while 43.9 percent were female, constituting a clear Title IX violation of the mandate requiring equal opportunity for men and women to participate in sports.

Attorney: ‘Historical moment for women in athletics’

“This is a historical moment for women in athletics,” said Jill Zwagerman, the attorney for Chretien and Mayerovo. “This will hopefully send a message to universities everywhere that are thinking about saving money by cutting women’s athletics. Cutting female sports is not the way to do it. It violates Title IX, which is illegal.”

EMU argued after the ruling that the cuts were necessary to work within budget constraints.

“As we have stated previously, the decision to eliminate four sports programs was extremely difficult,” a university statement read. “We initiated the action to reduce expenses in athletics consistent with strategic reductions across the university. These efforts are part of a comprehensive process to realign our budget to ensure our ability to continue to invest in key priority areas, such as high demand academic programs that meet the needs of today’s employers, and to modernize the facilities in which the programs are taught.”

Court: Title IX outweighs EMU’s budget concerns

EMU elaborated that reinstating the teams would entail a $1 million burden that would divert resources from other programs and harm other students. The court acknowledged those concerns but determined that they did not outweigh the Title IX violation in its ruling.

“The court finds that the financial burden on EMU is outweighed by the harm to Plaintiffs if the teams are not reinstated,” Steeh wrote. “Indeed, financial hardship is not a defense to a Title IX violation.”

Steeh also noted “a participation disparity that has lingered for at least fifteen years, with no evidence of a serious effort to address it.”

Chreitien applauded the ruling on Twitter.

Steeh ordered EMU and the plaintiffs to meet in his courtroom again in October to work out a plan to reinstate the two programs.

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