In 1972 the United States Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendment Act. This act banned sexual discrimination in education programs which received federal funding. In the realm of athletics, it required universities which received federal funding to provide equal athletic opportunities for men and women.

The court began it analysis by observing that the university could prevail on the Title IX ineffective accommodation claim if it could quality under any part of the three part test:

1. Where the institution can show that the intercollegiate level participation opportunities for male and females students are provided in numbers proportionate to their respective enrollments; or
   
2. Where the members of one sex have been and are under represented among intercollegiate athletes, but the institution can show a history and continuing practice of program expansion which is demonstrably responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the members of that sex, or
   
3. Where the members of one sex are under represented among intercollegiate athletes, and the institution cannot show a continuing practice of program expansion such as that cited above, but the institution can demonstrate that the interests and abilities of the members of that sex have been fully and effectively accommodated by the present program.

Return to Main Menu