NCAA vs. Title IX = Big $$$$
I had to flip a coin to decide which of two huge Title IX-related developments to feature at the top of this post, and the winner is: the NCAA vs. Title IX. The NCAA and colleges could rob women’s sports of millions of dollars if they get away with their latest attempt to break the law. If you are or were a Division I athlete who played since 2016, you might be able to do something about that if you act by January 31.
Here’s what’s happening, in a nutshell: A judge gave preliminary approval for settlements in two antitrust lawsuits that would see the NCAA, Power Five conferences, and NCAA Division I schools pay $2.75 billion to right past wrongs related to payments for the use of athletes’ names, images, and likenesses (also know as NIL). These defendants want to give 90% of that money to football and men’s basketball. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights reminded everyone that this would be discrimination against women in education under the civil rights law known as Title IX. The settlements also say that women who might want to sue later on because of this injustice won’t be able to unless they opt out of the settlements by January 31, 2025.
Former Olympic athlete Nancy Hogshead, J.D. and her nonprofit legal advocacy group Champion Women issued a call to action for NCAA Division I athletes who competed between June 15, 2016 and September 15, 2024. If you are or were a Division I athlete — or you know one — take a look at Hogshead’s step-by-step advice and share with your teammates.
For more descriptions of what this all means, see the National Law Review or a summary by ABC News.
I think the NCAA and Power 5 schools likely know that the settlements discriminate against women and they don’t care. They probably figured, “Let’s do it. Who’s going to stop us?” That strategy often has worked for them in the past until lawsuits by women forced change.
Title IX regulations change again
The story on the other side of my coin-toss reports that a judge threw out the 2024 Title IX regulations instituted under the Biden Administration and told schools to go back to 2020 rules created under the first Trump Administration. The legal reasoning seems to be that the 2024 regulations went too far by including protections against discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation when the original law only mentioned sex. But the judge threw out ALL of the 2024 regulations, not just parts of it. Which means that the parts that made investigations of sexual assault and harassment a bit fairer to students who got assaulted or harassed are gone too. Here’s a recap by CNN.
The Trump Administration is unlikely to challenge the ruling. In my previous blog post, I wrote, “It took four years for Trump initially to change the regulations, and four years for Biden to change them, so you can guess how long it might take for Trump to move the see-saw again.” The administrative see-saw got crushed in a legal earthquake.
Elsewhere
Scholars published a study in Political Geography compiling “a feminist legal geography of sexual assault prevention on U.S. college campuses.” It highlights the variability in how universities interpret Title IX.
The Office for Civil Rights issued guidance about dealing with online and digital harassment.
More than 60 civil rights and advocacy groups wrote Congress to oppose a bill banning transgender, intersex, and nonbinary students from school sports. The majority-Republican House of Representatives passed it anyway. As I write this, it hasn’t yet come up for a Senate vote. And in case you missed it, the Biden Administration in late December gave up on trying to write Title IX rules that would protect transgender athletes in schools.
Puzzle time!
Here’s a blog bonus for people who enjoy jigsaw puzzles as much as I do, to say thank you for reading to the end of this post. It’s a puzzle showing me celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX at a National Women’s Law Center event in 2022. Click on the tic-tac-toe grid at this link to change the number of pieces if you’d like: https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/online-jigsaw-puzzle-player.html
