Following a court order to bring its athletics programs into compliance with federal gender-equity requirements, Quinnipiac University plans to keep its women's volleyball team and its competitive cheer squad. Under a plan filed in federal court on Wednesday, the university also proposed adding women's golf and rugby teams to provide more athletic opportunities for female students.
Several volleyball players and their coach sued Quinnipiac last year after the school announced it would eliminate volleyball for budgetary reasons and replace it with a competitive cheer squad. The school contended that the squad kept it in compliance with Title IX, but U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill disagreed. In a ruling last month, he said that competitive cheerleading had not developed enough to be considered a college sport for Title IX purposes. He ordered the school to keep the volleyball team and come up with a compliance plan.
According to the Associated Press, that plan includes renaming the cheer squad the stunts and tumbling team and keeping it as a varsity sport. Additionally, the university's senior vice president for academic and student affairs will monitor rosters. Underhill found that Quinnipiac had been manipulating rosters to make it appear that women had more athletic opportunities than were actually available.
