For Immediate Release: Monday, April 21, 1997
For More Information Contact: Theresa Henige, TLPJ, 202-797-8600
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will not review the decision in Cohen v. Brown University finding the school in violation of Title IX for discriminating against women in its intercollegiate athletic program. Brown and a wide-ranging coalition of universities, athletic associations, and politicians had asked the Court to review the case and overturn the finding against Brown.
"This is a huge victory for women throughout the nation and everyone who believes in equal rights," said Lynette Labinger, lead counsel for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ), the national public interest law firm that sponsored the case. Labinger is a partner in the Providence law firm of Roney & Labinger.
"It has been 25 years since Title IX was passed and it's now time for the celebration to begin," said TLPJ Executive Director Arthur H. Bryant, co-counsel in the case. "The message from the courts is clear: no more excuses. Discrimination against women in athletics has got to stop."
The class action lawsuit was filed in April 1992, after Brown terminated funding for its women's gymnastics and volleyball teams. The suit charges 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, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Raymond S. 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 fully 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.
Brown then sought Supreme Court review. Because proceedings in the case have been continuing in the lower courts, Brown's new proposed compliance plan is scheduled to be submitted today.
TLPJ's litigation team in Cohen also includes Ray Marcaccio of Blish & Cavanaugh and Amato DeLuca of DeLuca & Weizenbaum, both of Providence, Sandra Duggan of Philadelphia, and TLPJ's Leslie Brueckner.
