Michigan State reached a settlement on Friday with 11 former members of the women’s swim team that was cut at the end of the 2020-21 season, a decision that sparked a larger debate about how Title IX compliance should be measured in college sports.
The settlement will not restore the Spartans’ swimming and diving programs, but it will force MSU to undergo an independent gender equity review, create a gender equity plan, and bring its athletic programs into “full Title IX compliance” by the end of the 2026-27 school year. A U.S. district court judge deemed MSU to be out of compliance last year, and the university’s request for Supreme Court review was rejected last month.
“These women were treated like second-class citizens even before their team was eliminated, and this settlement will ensure that future Spartan women will be treated equally at MSU,” said Lori Bullock, an attorney who represented the swimmers. “While these women are not back in the water as Division I swimmers and divers at MSU, by standing up to a Power 5 athletics program like Michigan State, they have demonstrated that women everywhere can demand equality. They united and said, ‘enough is enough.’ I am humbled that I was able to stand alongside these incredible students in their fight for equality.”
The Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive advocacy group released a statement on Saturday saying its fight to reinstate MSU’s swimming programs remains ongoing.
“We are encouraged by the open dialogue with interim President Teresa Woodruff’s office over the last month to review data and collaborate on proposed solutions,” Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive said. “We look forward to continuing these discussions with the President’s office and engaging with Athletic Director Alan Haller and University Advancement to connect our donors and demonstrate the broad support for the return of MSU Swimming and Diving. Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive enters the coming year with momentum and purpose, and looks forward to working together with MSU’s new leaders on the return of both teams.”
Sophia Balow, one of the former swimmers who led the lawsuit against MSU, echoed the sentiment that the battle is “alive and well.”
“I am very proud and extremely humbled to stand amongst such incredible, strong women,” Balow said. “This process has been difficult, and I am disappointed that after two years of litigation, MSU continues to demonstrate its unwillingness to right its wrongs from the past. But the battle for Spartan Swim & Dive is alive and well.”
MSU has long argued that the elimination of its swim programs left the university with percentages of men’s and women’s athletes that were close enough to its student enrollment numbers to satisfy the law. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenged that notion, saying MSU’s compliance should be based on the numerical gap in its men’s and women’s athlete populations instead of percentages.
In 2019-20, MSU’s student body was 49.1% men and 50.9% women while its athlete breakdown was 49.7% men and 50.3% women. In 2018-19, the student body was 48.8% men and 51.2% women, with the student-athlete breakdown 50.2% men and 49.8% women.
“MSU remains committed to providing equal opportunities for all student-athletes,” MSU deputy spokesman Dan Olsen said. “While the university is in compliance with Title IX, these measures will help ensure public trust in our compliance enforcement through an ongoing independent, third-party review.”
It is sad to see how quickly college athletics departments consider cutting swimming programs.
It appears like these decisions are impulsive and have legal ramifications.