
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994                   TAG: 9401270244
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TITLE IX SUIT COULD BE COSTLY

As if being sued in federal court for sex discrimination isn't unsettling enough to Virginia Tech, the school could join a short list of institutions that have discovered Title IX violations can be costly.

The Tech suit, filed Tuesday by a dozen women who want their sports upgraded to varsity status, is believed to be only the third Title IX suit that has demanded a school pay for, as well as correct, inequity in its athletic programs.

"Money is the only thing that gets the schools' attention," said Deborah Brake of the National Women's Law Center. "They have more at stake."

Brooklyn College professor Linda Carpenter, a lawyer who has researched women's sports since 1977, said a 1992 Supreme Court decision awarding damages in a Title IX lawsuit opened the door for plaintiffs to seek compensation.

That case involved a female high school student in Gwinnett County, Ga., who had charged a coach with sexual harassment. Carpenter said the coach resigned, but the student wanted damages and filed a Title IX suit.

According to a chart compiled by the Women's Sports Foundation, 16 Title IX-related lawsuits have been filed against colleges since 1990. Brake said Wednesday she believes the suits against Tech, Auburn and Colorado State are the only ones in which the plaintiffs are seeking damages.

The Colorado State case was settled late last year with a court-approved award of $71,786, according to the Women's Sports Foundation chart. Carpenter said Auburn's out-of-court settlement included a $140,000 payment to the plaintiffs.

Auburn's case was most like Tech's: 18 women sued the Alabama school to force it to upgrade its soccer program to varsity status. Brake said the damage award at least partly covered the cost of scholarships the club team members didn't have. She said the Tech suit is not the first to seek payback for unavailable scholarships.

The Tech suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke, wants softball, field hockey, lacrosse and crew to be upgraded to varsity sports. On Tuesday, Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said it "may be problematic" for the dozen plaintiffs to get back scholarship money from Tech because, he said, Tech would not necessarily have sponsored varsity softball, field hockey, lacrosse and crew even if it had been in compliance with Title IX.

Carpenter, whom Tech used as a consultant during its in-house study of its Title IX compliance in the fall, described that as "a real reach for an argument."

Tech's attempt to avoid the lawsuit by telling the plaintiffs the school would have a plan for Title IX compliance in place by February didn't work. Carpenter is skeptical that Tech's efforts would satisfy a judge if the suit goes to trial.

by CNB