The University of Northern Iowa has decided to reverse the decision to drop its women’s swimming and diving and tennis programs.
The men’s and women’s teams were cut in May to save money in UNI’s athletic department. The Washington, D.C. group “Trial Lawyers for Public Justice” said they planned to file a lawsuit against the university based on Title Nine compliance. An assistant Iowa Attorney General has advised the school to reinstate the programs in the face of the lawsuit as it would cost more to fight the suit. Athletic Director Rick Hartzell says they’ll reinstate the programs at the same level of funding as they had before the cut. Hartzell feels that U-N-I is not in violation of Title IX as they meet two out of the three criteria, by adding soccer and in a survey that shows no new interest. He says they aren’t in compliance if you go by strict proportionality, but he says they feel meeting two of the requirements should be enough. Hartzell says the task now is to get the programs up and running again by this fall.
Hartzell says the decisions to cut the sports were hard to make but came under a stressful budget period when universities weren’t sure how much money was going to be allotted by the state.
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice staff attorney, Rebecca Epstein, says it’s a victory for women athletes and everyone who cares about gender equity in sports. The university says swim coach Danny May will be offered the women’s swimming coaching job that he previously held. A search would be done to fill the vacant women’s tennis coaching job.