Favia v. Indiana University of Pennsylvania U. S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. 1993 Facts: Dawn Favia, Wendy Schandelmeier, Kim Dalcamo, and Amy Poehler brought a suit against Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), claiming systematic discrimination on the basis of gender in intercollegiate athletic programs. The plaintiffs were part of the gymnastics and field hockey teams which the school planned to eliminate due to budget cuts. They brought a case on behalf of the women athletic program participants and all present and future IUP women students or potential students who participate or seek to participate or are deterred from participating in intercollegiate athletics sponsored by IUP. The plaintiffs seek the court to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent the school from eliminating the two women's teams. The IUP is a federally funded University and thus subject to the authority of Title IX (Title IX is a federal law designed to provide equal treatment of the sexes in all areas, including athletics). In 1991, IUP sponsored 18 varsity teams - nine male and nine female. During that time frame, state and federal appropriations were reduced, and the Department of Athletics was instructed to reduce its budget. The IUP athletic director, supposedly aware of Title IX, decided to eliminate women's gymnastics and field hockey teams and the men's soccer and tennis teams to cut costs. In other words, he planned to eliminate an equal number of male and female athletic teams, two each, to address budget cuts. The athletic director testifies that it was his intent to replace those teams with women's soccer varsity teams during a better financial state. Although the number of athletics teams seemed gender balanced with seven male and seven female varsity teams, the choice of the teams had a big impact on opportunities for female athletes. Only 37 percent of all athletes were female and after the cutback, the percentage was reduced by one percent (36), which is absolutely disproportional to the number of female students at IUP (55 percent) and is not equal to the opportunities available to the male students which represent 64 percent of all athletes. In 1982, there were ten varsity women's teams, and after the cuts, the number dropped to seven which shows that women athletes and teams are generally behind the men's in terms of priorities.
Question for the Court: Whether IUP satisfied Title IX of the Education Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requirements (provide equal protection under the law to all people, including all non-citizens, within the state jurisdiction) when they cut two women's teams due to budget cuts and whether the plaintiffs provided evidence to meet all four elements required for a court to grant a preliminary injunction.
The decision of the Court: The District Court determined that IUP did not meet the requirements of Title IX. Therefore, the Court granted...
