Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 21, 1994 TAG: 9405210044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Amy Sabrin, based in Washington, D.C., still is pursuing damages and legal fees, which sources have said could exceed $400,000. Tech, which denies it violated the federal law that mandates gender equity in athletics, will continue to argue against any penalties.
There are no face-to-face meetings scheduled, Sabrin said. If it isn't settled, the lawsuit goes to trial in January in Federal District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke.
Tech announced Monday it will add two sports (softball and lacrosse) in the next two years and take other measures to ensure its male-female participation and scholarship ratio is within 3 percent of its male-female enrollment ratio by 1996-97. Student-athletes in four sports - the two Tech is adding, plus field hockey and crew - are represented in the lawsuit.
Sabrin, who has received a copy of the plan, said it is "essentially very similar to our last [negotiating] position . . . numbers, timing, the 3 percent." But she said Tech's plan addresses neither compensation for the plaintiffs nor the other two sports represented in the lawsuit.
In any case, Sabrin said, her side "absolutely" will seek a federal court's reinforcement of Tech's plan.
"We would like the case to be resolved by way of a court order that will [compel] the university to implement [the plan]," she said. "We've had to take their word for many years."
The plaintiffs' position came as no surprise to Tech officials, assistant athletic director Steve Horton said. Horton added, however, that Tech believes it is the first school sued over Title IX that would take a plan into court if the lawsuit goes to trial. Tech was addressing Title IX before the lawsuit was filed, he said.
"Virginia Tech could've stuck its head in the sand and gone [into court] kicking and screaming," Horton said. "That hasn't been the intention since we got here [in 1988]."
Sabrin suggested compensation could be in the form of increased funding for the sports named in the lawsuit. But Tech remains convinced it should owe nothing to the dozen women who claim in the lawsuit they should be repaid for out-of-pocket expenses while playing club sports, and for the scholarships they couldn't earn because their sports were not funded by the athletic department.
"Those particular people have not suffered in any way whatsoever," Horton said. "Not the fact that they did not get a chance to play their sport. Lots of kids don't get a chance to play their sport."
by CNB