By Abigail Funk
As the spring sports seasons get underway, and with Title IX continuing to be a hot-button topic in high school and collegiate athletics, AthleticManagement.com takes a closer look at recent news stories about gender equity complaints involving softball facilities.
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How is your baseball field shaping up this year? In the harsh light of longer spring days, it may become painfully obvious that the infield needs new topdressing, or more seating will be necessary soon, or perhaps it’s about time to replace that old scoreboard. But don’t forget about your softball field as you think about these projects. You may want to double-check the athletics budget to make sure there are enough funds to make improvements to both facilities equally.
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As Prince George’s County (Md.) Public Schools found out in 2006, the inequity of baseball and softball facilities can be grounds for a Title IX complaint. Two years later, however, the county has poured $1.1 million into fixing up 17 of its 22 softball fields, and will promote girls’ sports in the county throughout the rest of the year as it strives to come into compliance with the proportionality prong of Title IX.
In a little bit of a twist, it wasn’t a softball player or parent who filed the Title IX complaint against Prince George’s County in 2006—it was longtime softball umpire, Jack Mowatt, who submitted a list of safety issues such as broken backstops and pipes and tree stumps sticking out of the ground on the fields, along with photographs, to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). The NWLC notified the county of the inequities, and negotiated with officials to come to an agreement. The NWLC applauded the county for taking action to fix the problems.
In other softball-related Title IX news...
The University of Charleston recently had a softball field-related Title IX complaint re-filed against it. In 2006, then-Charleston student Stephanie Kuhn filed her original complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), claiming inequities affecting the school's softball field, which is located in a city park. UC agreed to improve the field by the start of this season, but when Kuhn visited campus and found no changes had been made, she renewed her complaint. UC officials say unforeseen construction issues have delayed the improvements.
Athletic directors, presidents, and principals aren’t the only school employees affected by non-compliance with Title IX. This California high school softball coach is not dwelling on his team’s past problems with inequity, but is moving forward in what is shaping up to be a very successful season. It took years for the team to bounce back from a messy Title IX dispute before the coach was on board.
The OCR is in the midst of a Title IX compliance review of this North Carolina county’s four high schools. The lack of a water fountain, locker rooms, and an outfield warning track are a few of the issues the OCR is reviewing at one high school. The review was prompted by an article that appeared in a local newspaper.
And although official details have not been released, a tentative settlement has been reached between the Lewistown (Ill.) School District and parents of two high school softball players regarding inequities between the high school’s baseball and softball teams. The parents of two softball players and their lawyer must approve the final decision, but the school board has agreed to the settlement.
The suit alleges that the baseball team's facilities are superior to the softball team's and that the baseball team is provided with new uniforms by the district while the softball team must raise money to purchase its uniforms. The suit also contains complaints about foul-weather gymnasium usage—baseball players have access to the high school gymnasium for practice when it rains, but softball players must travel across town to a middle school gym.
Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.
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