Mansourian v. Regents of The University of California, No Mansourian v. Regents of The University of California, No. 08-16330, UNITED STATES Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 594 F.3d 1095; 2010 U.S. LEXIS 2602, October 8, 2009, Argued and Submitted, February 8, 2010, Filed
Questions Did the University of California, Davis (defendants) violate the Plaintiffs rights under the Equal Protection Clause, by eliminating all women from the varsity wrestling team? Did the defendants make a case for qualified immunity?
Facts UCD had presented women opportunities to wrestle for numerous years The men and women were one wrestling team The women practiced with the men and Coach Mike Burch gave them coaching just like the men. In the school year of 2000-2001 all women from the varsity wrestling team were excluded
Facts Women were allowed back on the team after the students complained and protested the administrators The women had to beat the men in their weight class following the college wrestling rules Previously women had only competed against other women using “international freestyle rules.” (594 F.3d 1095) Due to the new rules the women were unable to continue competing on the varsity wrestling team losing “benefits associated with varsity status, including scholarships and academic credit.” (594 F.3d 1095)
Facts The class actions were not only brought in an individual manner but in official capacities, as well female students at this University were deprived of “equal athletic participation opportunities.” (594 F.3d 1095) The attorney for the plaintiff’s had a serious illness causing the plaintiff’s to request a stay just before their hearing was scheduled on class certification The stay for this case was ten months long and by the time the stay was over only one student, Mancuso, had still been attending UCD and had even graduated at that point and time
Facts “The plaintiffs had no one currently attending UCD and this led to the dismissal of the class claims for injunctive relief.” (594 F.3d 1095) Class action is “a lawsuit that allows a large number of people with a common interest in a matter to sue or be sued as a group.” (Hill & Hill, 2005)
Issue Women no longer allowed to wrestle Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause had been violated
Previous History What is Title IX, “Cockburn v. Santa Monica Community College District. A faculty member was dismissed for embracing and kissing his student laboratory assistant once and attempting to do so at other times. The Court held that the behavior created a hostile environment for the student”. (Walker, n.d.)
Previous History Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq., prohibits sex discrimination by public and private educational institutions receiving federal funds”. (Kaplin & Lee, 2007, p. 148) Kaplin and Lee (2007) discuss the Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education (2005) case, “the male coach of a high school girls’ basketball team claimed that he was terminated in retaliation for complaining about allegedly unequal facilities for boys’ and girls’ teams.” (p. 149)
Previous History The equal opportunity focus of the regulations also applies to athletic scholarships. Institutions must “provide reasonable opportunities for such awards for members of each sex in proportion to the number of each sex participating in… intercollegiate athletics” (34 C.F.R. 106.37 (c) (1)).” (Kaplin & Lee, 2007, p. 570)
Holding United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendants on the Title IX claim. The court also reversed the district court’s order dismissing the equal protection 1983 claim. The court remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the court’s opinion.” (594 F .3d 1095)
Reasoning “Qualified immunity was not raised before the district court, and the court would not affirm on that basis.” (594 F.3d 1095) “holding, where the two original plaintiffs had graduated and a third, later- joined plaintiff subsequently graduated before the appeal, that all three lacked standing to seek injunctive relief.” (594 F.3d 1095) Title IX regulations interpret the statute as requiring funding recipients to “provide equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes.” (594 F.3d 1095)
Significance Title IX law suits usually incorporate different types of clauses and acts when filed. How far along Title IX has come Enrollment at the time of the case would have been helpful
References Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Retrieved from http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/RulesAndPolicies/rules/EDiscovery_w_ Notes.pdf Curtis, M., & Grant, C. (n.d.). About title ix. Retrieved from http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/ge/aboutRE.html 40th anniversary of title ix: The next generation. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.titleix.info/Resources/News-Articles/40th-Anniversary-of- Title-IX-The-Next-Generation.aspx
References Hill, G. N., & Hill, K. T. (2005). Stay. In The free dictionary. Farlex. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/stay Hill, G. N., & Hill, K. T. (2005). Class action. In The free dictionary. Farlex. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/class+action Kaplin, W. A., & Lee, B. A. (2007). The law of higher education, student version (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Walker, R. (n.d.). What is title ix?. Retrieved from http://www2.ucsc.edu/title9-sh/titleix.htm