Title IX - Litigation After Grove City Case

Litigation After Grove City Case

Since Title IX was passed into law there have been many court cases claiming non-compliance. One of the most notable cases is Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. The decision in this case required that punitive damages should be awarded to plaintiffs when Title IX is intentionally avoided. In 1993 the court of appeals ruled that financial difficulties is not an excuse for non-compliance in Favia v. Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

In one specific instance, Title IX was instrumental in a court case involving Louisiana State University (LSU). In 1996, a federal court referenced Title IX in ruling that LSU violated the civil rights of female athletes by refusing to fund a trip to a women's volleyball tournament in Hawaii, when earlier in the year, travel for a men's basketball tournament was funded. Since this ruling, LSU has made changes in its athletic programs to achieve compliance. LSU is one of only three NCAA programs that are 100% self-funded and that do not accept financial contributions from the university or government.

In an "unusual" case, Title IX was invoked to justify a school's decision to upgrade its football program from Division I FCS (formerly I‑AA) to Division I FBS (formerly I‑A). The Western Kentucky University Board of Regents approved this move in November 2006, to take effect in 2009. At the time of the vote, WKU was purportedly out of Title IX compliance because it had a disproportionately large number of female scholarship athletes. By upgrading football, it increased the percentage of male athletes on scholarship. However, the following year, it eliminated its men's soccer team.

More recently, the Associated Press reported in May 2011 that the Department of Education was investigating the University of Delaware (UD) for potential sex discrimination against men, following a complaint by members of the school's men's cross country and track teams. UD had announced in January 2011 that it would be eliminating both teams at the end of the current school year.