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The Brown University News Bureau
38 Brown Street / Box R
Providence, RI 02912
401 / 863-2476
Fax: 401 / 863-9595
Distributed April 1995 (See other documents linked to
Title IX Chronology)
Contact: Mark Nickel
Brown Offers One of the Nation's Largest Varsity Programs
NCAA Division I schools must offer at least six men's and six women's
championship sports. Each year, the NCAA provides revenue-sharing funds based
upon the number of teams in excess of 12. According to NCAA records for
1991-92, Brown was tied for second place in the number of sports offered. Of
the 292 schools which participated in Division I sports, only Harvard offered
more NCAA championship sports than Brown.*
Top 10 Selected National Comparisons
Harvard 30 Alabama 18 Syracuse 16
Brown 28 UCLA 23 Texas A-M 20
Boston College 28 Georgetown 19 Tulane 15
Cornell 28 Kentucky 14 UNLV 12
Penn State 28 Miami (FL) 16 Vanderbilt 15
Princeton 28 Nebraska 21 Villanova 24
Yale 28 Notre Dame 25 Washington 19
Dartmouth 27 Prov. Coll. 20
Michigan State 27 Purdue 18
Ohio State 27 So. Cal. 17
Rutgers 27 Stanford 25
* The NCAA does not offer national championships for all varsity sports.
Although Brown fielded 31 intercollegiatevarsity teams at the time,
the NCAA offered national championships for only 28. Data were
reported in a memorandum from NCAA Executive Director Richard
D.Schultz to CEOs of Selected Division I Institutions, August 14, 1992.
- Brown offers 18 varsity women's sports (15 funded, 2 unfunded, 1 unfunded
coed team), more than double the national average for NCAA Division I schools
(8.3)
- The average number of women who participate in varsity sports at NCAA
Division I schools was approximately 112 in 1993-94. This year, Brown will
field 338 women, about three times the NCAA
Division I average.
- This year, nearly 12 percent of Brown undergraduate women will participate
in varsity sports, nearly triple the national average.
Participation
Opportunities**
University-Funded 1994-95 University-Funded 1994-95
Women's Teams Players Men's Teams Players
Basketball 12 Baseball 28
Crew 47 Basketball 16
Cross Country 17 Crew 54
Field Hockey 31 Cross Country 27
Gymnastics 12 Football 80
Ice Hockey 18 Ice Hockey 31
Lacrosse 34 Lacrosse 43
Soccer 25 Soccer 26
Softball 12 Swimming and Diving 13
Squash 13 Tennis 11
Swimming and Diving 23 Track (two teams)*** 58
Tennis 10 Wrestling 27
Track (two teams)*** 46
Volleyball 11 University-Funded Men 414
University-Funded Women 311
Donor-Funded 1994-95 Donor-Funded 1994-95
Women's Teams Players Men's Teams Players
Fencing 11 Fencing 19
Golf 1 Golf 9
Skiing 15 Squash 11
Water Polo 21
Donor-Funded Women 27
Donor-Funded Men 60
TOTAL Women's Varsity 338 TOTAL Men's Varsity 474
(41.6%) (58.4%)
Other Intercollegiate 1994-95 Other Intercollegiate 1994-95
Women's Teams Players Men's Teams Players
Sailing 35 Sailing 35
Soccer Club 20
Water Polo 15
**According to the testimony of coaches as represented in
Brown's post-trial memorandum, Tab A. Numbers of squad
members for 1994-95 are taken from trial testimony. Where
a coach did not testify, the number is drawn from initial
squad lists after first deletions. (Figures submitted as
part of Brown's post-trial memorandum.)
***Indoor and outdoor track are often counted as separate
teams but generally have the same squads.
- Brown offers varsity teams for 15 of the 18 sports offered by at least 1
percent of the NCAA Division I schools in the East and offers intercollegiate
opportunities in the remaining three sports.
Chronology of Intercollegiate
Varsity Teams at Brown
Brown was an early leader in women's sports, establishing the nation's first
women's ice hockey team and undertaking a period of intense expansion when
Brown and Pembroke, the undergraduate college for women, merged in 1971. By
1978, Brown's program of varsity athletics for women offered twice as many
teams as most NCAA Division I schools do now.
Women's Year Men's
1869 Baseball
1878 Football
1879 Outdoor Track
1897 Ice Hockey
1900 Basketball
1905 Swimming
1912 Indoor Track
1921 Cross-Country
1922 Wrestling
1925 Golf*
1926 Lacrosse
1926 Soccer
1927 Tennis
1961 Crew
Ice Hockey** 1967
1971 (Brown and Pembroke College Merge)
Tennis 1972
Basketball 1973
Crew 1973
Field Hockey 1973
Gymnastics 1974
Squash 1974
Swimming 1974
Volleyball 1974 Water Polo
Cross Country 1975
Lacrosse 1975
Soccer 1975
Softball 1975
Outdoor Track 1978
Fencing 1980 Fencing
Indoor Track 1982
1989 Squash
Golf* 1993
Skiing 1994
*Brown's golf team is now a single co-ed squad.
**Brown established the nation's first women's ice hockey team.
The Bears were organized in 1964 and became a varsity sport in 1967,
before the Brown-Pembroke merger.
In the spring of 1991, Brown was facing a double-edged budget dilemma. Unless
it took some dramatic steps, the University would finish the year with a
$1.6-million deficit. Worse, a structural problem in the University's budget
virtually guaranteed that deficits would be a recurring problem. Brown needed
to downsize.
President Gregorian announced an immediate moratorium on new hiring and
directed that all departments throughout the University would cut their budgets
to stave off the deficit. (There would be only two exceptions: The scholarship
aid budget and the library acquisitions budget were exempt from cuts.)
To help produce its share of savings, the athletic department withdrew funding
from four varsity teams: men's water polo and golf, women's gymnastics and
volleyball. The teams continued to compete at the intercollegiate varsity level
and remained eligible for post-season tournament play, but had to raise their
own funds.
The cuts affected approximately 60 athletes in roughly the same male-to-female
ratio as for all Brown varsity athletes at the time: 60-40. The University
continued to honor existing contracts for coaches of the teams.
Approximately a year later, members of the two women's teams filed suit
alleging sexual discrimination and violation of Title IX, a federal law that
prohibits discrimination based on gender at any educational institutions that
receive federal funds. The women were represented by Trial Lawyers for Public
Justice, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction that would
require Brown to reinstate funding for the two women's teams and refrain from
any further cuts in women's sports until the case could be heard on its merits.
Arguments were presented before Judge Pettine between Oct. 26 and Nov. 16.
Pettine granted the preliminary injuction, requiring Brown to reinstate full
varsity funding and support. The University immediately sought a stay of that
injunction and requested an expedited appeal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit granted a temporary stay; Brown
did not have to reinstate funding until the appeal could be heard.
Attorneys for both sides argued the appeal in Boston.
The Appeals Court upheld the lower court, the stay was lifted, and Brown
restored funding for the teams in the 1993-94 season.
After numerous delays at the request of plaintiffs' attorneys, the trial began
in U.S. District Court in Providence before Senior Judge Raymond Pettine.
Attorneys for both sides agreed to a partial settlement that recognizes Brown's
treatment of men's and women's teams as nondiscriminatory with regard to locker
rooms, facilities for practice and competition, schedules for games and
practices, access to the weight room and trainers, equipment and supplies,
travel arrangements, assignment of coaches, budgeting procedures and many other
factors. Brown agreed to continue those current policies and practices for
three years. Treatment issues were thereby removed from consideration in the
trial, which then focused on the issue of proportionality.
Plaintiffs requested and received a three-week recess to depose witnesses for
the defense.
Testimony concluded after 29 days in court.
Final oral arguments were made by attorneys for each side.
Post-trial memoranda were presented to Pettine, followed two weeks later by
reply briefs from both sides.
Pettine entered his final opinion and order, finding for the plaintiffs. Brown
was given 120 days to file a plan for compliance, but Pettine stayed his own
order pending appeal. Brown announces its intention to appeal the case to the
First Circuit Court of Appeals.
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