For Immediate Release: June 23, 1998

For More Information Contact: TLPJ, 202-797-8600

Brown University Agrees to Guarantee Participation Rates for Women Athletes and Funding for Contested Women's Teams

Settlement Resolves Women Athletes' Remaining Title IX Complaints Against Program

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) announced today that Brown University had agreed to guarantee intercollegiate athletic participation rates for women athletes and funding for four contested women's teams to resolve TLPJ's landmark Title IX class action against the school. The proposed settlement of the outstanding claims against Brown's program in Cohen v. Brown University was presented to and preliminarily approved by United States District Judge Ernest Torres in Providence, Rhode Island, today.

"This is a tremendous victory for women athletes and potential athletes at Brown, as well as everyone in the nation who cares about equality, "said TLPJ Executive Director Arthur H. Bryant, who personally negotiated the settlement. "We are delighted that women at Brown are finally going to get the intercollegiate athletic opportunities and treatment that they deserve."

Under the terms of the agreement, as long as Brown continues to offer the full array of women's university-funded and donor-funded sports currently in its intercollegiate athletic program and does not change the balance between men and women by adding or upgrading men's teams, Brown must ensure that women's intercollegiate athletic participation rate is within 3.5 percentage points of women's undergraduate enrollment rate at the school. If Brown eliminates or downgrades a current women's team, or adds or upgrades a men's team without adding or upgrading a corresponding women's team, then Brown must ensure that women's intercollegiate athletic participation rate is within 2.25 percentage points of women's undergraduate enrollment rate at the school.

In addition, Brown agreed to upgrade women's water polo from club to donor-funded varsity status and to guarantee funding for the four women's teams that now-retired U.S. District Court Judge Raymond S. Pettine found Brown had not adequately supported – gymnastics, fencing, skiing, and water polo. While calling the teams "donor-funded", Brown will fund the teams at significantly increased levels for the next three (or, in gymnastics' case, four) years, whether or not sufficient funds can be raised from donors. For the next four years, Brown will also provide gymnastics with the same benefits and treatment it received last year, when it was treated as a"university-funded" team under Court order.

"We are especially pleased that we obtained increased opportunities and funding for women without sacrificing opportunities or funding for men," said TLPJ lead counsel Lynette Labinger of Providence's Roney & Labinger. "That was one of our goals from the start. We applaud all of the parties and newly-appointed Brown President E. Gordon Gee for finding a constructive way to resolve this litigation and enhance women's opportunities at Brown."

The Cohen class action lawsuit was filed in April 1992, after Brown terminated funding for its women's gymnastics and volleyball teams. The suit charged Brown with violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination by all educational institutions receiving federal funds.

In December 1992, TLPJ won a preliminary injunction requiring Brown to reinstate the women's teams. In April 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously affirmed the preliminary injunction pending trial. In March 1995, after a three-month trial, Judge Pettine found Brown in violation of Title IX and ordered it to submit a proposed plan to come into compliance. In July 1995, Judge Pettine found Brown's proposal unacceptable and ordered it to upgrade four women's teams -- gymnastics, fencing, water polo, and skiing -- to university- funded varsity status. In November 1996, the First Circuit affirmed the decision finding Brown in violation of Title IX, but said that the school should be given another chance to develop its own plan for compliance. On April 21, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Brown's petition for review.

Brown subsequently proposed a new compliance plan and plaintiffs objected that it, too, was insufficient. An evidentiary hearing on whether Brown's proposal would, in fact, bring the school into compliance with Title IX was scheduled to begin before Judge Torres on Monday, June 22, but the settlement eliminated the need for the hearing.

Brown University originally announced that it was eliminating funding for women's volleyball and gymnastics in 1991 in order to save $64,000 annually. The school reinstated women's volleyball on the eve of trial in 1994. Under the settlement agreement preliminarily approved today, Brown will spend $64,400 on women's gymnastics in 1998-99.

Formal notice of the settlement will be distributed to the class members in September, shortly after classes start. A final hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled for October 8 before Judge Torres. If the settlement is approved, all issues in the case will be resolved, except for costs and attorneys' fees.

In addition to Labinger and Bryant, TLPJ's litigation team in Cohen includes Amato DeLuca of DeLuca & Weizenbaum and Ray Marcaccio of Blish & Cavanaugh, both of Providence, Sandra Duggan of Philadelphia, and TLPJ's Leslie Brueckner.