Brown pays $1.2M in Title IX settlement

PROVIDENCE – Brown University on Tuesday agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million in legal fees as part of a June 2020 settlement between the Ivy League school and the student-athletes who had challenged the college’s decision to drop several women’s varsity sports.

The legal challenge centered on the school’s decision to reduce several women’s varsity sports teams to club status. Several men’s sports were also reduced to club status, although some were later restored. The student-athletes alleged that the cuts violated the 1998 pact.

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The settlement, approved by a federal judge in Providence, restored the women’s equestrian and women’s fencing teams to varsity status, and calls for an end to a 1998 legal agreement ensuring gender equity in varsity sports at Brown on Aug. 31, 2024.

“This order should send a message to schools nationwide,” said Arthur Bryant of Bailey Glasser LLP, one of the class lawyers for the women. “Title IX is the law. It prohibits sex discrimination. If schools violate Title IX, they will pay. If schools violate Title IX, refuse to admit it, and fight in the courts, they will pay more. And they’ll still have to comply with law.”

The student-athletes were represented by attorneys with the ACLU of Rhode Island, Public Justice and two private law firms. They called the settlement an important victory for women in scholastic athletics.

“Countless women locally and nationally have benefited from the efforts of the women at Brown who have championed this case over three decades through to its current conclusion,” said Lynette Labinger, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Rhode Island.  “We hope that this substantial award, coming after the restoration of two of the women’s teams and the obligation to cut no more, will send a message to all colleges and universities in Rhode Island and elsewhere to carefully examine their athletic programs, renew their commitment to ensure that their women athletes are being treated fairly and equitably and to recognize that decisions to cut programs to save money may prove more costly than the projected savings themselves.”

Brown disagreed with all claims in the case and settled the matter with no finding of liability, agreeing to cover attorneys’ fees to avoid the time and expense of further litigation, according to Brian Clark, a university spokesman.

(ADDS Brown response in last paragraph.)