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Concordia University’s attempt to incorporate athletics with one hand while striking four sports with the other was thwarted by a Federal Judge who gave the university the first to protect its swimming and tennis programs.
Seven members of the swimming and diving team and two tennis players accused of sexual harassment were charged in August that by abandoning the programs, the Irvine school violated Title IX.
Judge Fred W. Swable concurred, ordering that the injunction remain in place at trial. Concordia must revive the women’s teams and provide them with “financial, personnel, and all other benefits made in their status as varsity intercollegiate benefits,” Stlat Sleat concluded in a 19-page decision.
Concordia announced the cuts to the men’s swimming and tennis teams in May, saying the school had “decided that the current model is unsustainable amid cost effectiveness, facility limitations, and significant changes in the spirit of the sport.” “
But the cuts came at a time when Concordia plowed $25.5 million into improving the University’s athletic infrastructure. A week after athletic director crystal rosenthal calculated the cut would save $550,000 a year, he sent an email to the athletics that didn’t disappear, shaking that the athletes’ biggest improvement.
Rosenthal, who is also the school’s softball coach, wrote: “We are currently in the middle of a $17.5 million construction project
He added that more than $8 million has been earmarked for improvements to the baseball, softball and soccer/track/lacrosse facilities – including the installation of outdoor lighting.
A trial followed in August and a preliminary indictment was issued Friday. Arthur Bryant, a lawyer who represents female athletes, said that women make up 59% of Concordia’s student body but receive only 51.2% of the sports return spots.
“The Court’s sweeping, sweeping decision reaffirms what we have said from the beginning: Cui’s decision to end the women’s swimming and diving and tennis teams was a violation of Title ix,” Bryant said in a statement. “Concordia needs to add 100 opportunities for women to reach gender equality. No women’s groups should be eliminated.”
Similar spending on infrastructure was particularly stressful for female athletes and certain alumni, according to swimming. The swimming and water polo teams that are trained on the campuses simply include few practical requirements at the school. The swimming program had 23 men and 25 women on its rosters last season.
Concordia, a Lutheran-affiliated school of about 1,500 that moved from the NAIA to NAAA Division II in 2017, is one of the few universities to cut sports programs that have been cut by the courts.
A federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction against Stephen F. Austin State in August, preventing the school from eliminating the Volleyball, Bowling and Golf Programs. According to the other eight schools that are not and other schools as of 2020 have been ordered to return programs after the IX IX challenges: ICONA, East Carolina, North Carolina Celer.