Court finds St. Cloud State University now in compliance with Title IX
A U.S. District Court Opinion filed Sept. 7 for the case of Portz v. St. Cloud State University has found the university to be in compliance with Title IX on its provision of athletic participation opportunities.
“We are very pleased today with the finding that the University is compliant with Title IX participation requirements," said a statement made by the university.
Additionally, the court said "focusing on Title IX provisions of treatment and benefits, in only one area ― its travel/per diem policies, the court is seeking additional policy information and evidence of compliance from SCSU."
“We are looking forward to addressing travel policies and forwarding them to the court and beginning to bring this case to a close in an expeditious manner," the university's statement said.
According to the court, the university "has demonstrated that its current athletic portfolio can produce equal participation opportunities, in compliance with Title IX, on an ongoing basis."
Title IX, part of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
The Portz v. St. Cloud State University case was the result of cuts to athletic programs in 2016 which lead to the university ending three men's sports teams and two women's sports team. The prosecution pointed that the cuts impacted women athletes more than men by the number of members rather than teams.
A judge ruled in August 2019 that the university violated Title IX, and the school was ordered to pay $1.7 million in the plaintiffs' attorney fees and other costs.
More:Judge finds SCSU failed to comply with Title IX
Biannually, the university was required to submit a report on what actions it took to get to compliance with Title IX. One example that Judith Siminoe, special advisor to the president of St. Cloud State, pointed to was the elimination of the football team. On the football team, she said "it's typically around 100 male students... 100 male opportunities. There aren't any women's sports that are that big. So it made it easier for us to hit that proportional number of opportunities for men and women."
Siminoe added that the elimination of the team helped "re-deploy" finances towards the other SCSU teams. Holly Schreiner, interim director of athletics, also shared that some of the money will go to scholarships across all teams and in one instance the women's soccer graduate assistant was promoted to a full time position as an assistant couch.
More:St. Cloud State University cuts football and golf, adds men's soccer in 2020
SCSU has no immediate plans to add any sports as a result of the court recognized compliance with Title IX, although Siminoe said that this is subject to change. What is beneficial for the university for now is that there can be less energy spent in litigation.
"You can spend your energy on running the program or planning the future rather than worrying about what decision the judge may make on your report," Siminoe told the times.
The only item from the lawsuit that SCSU needs to address is writing a policy on how travel expenses are equitably distributed between the men's and women's teams.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Court finds St. Cloud State University now in compliance with Title IX
