Concordia University’s attempt to bolster athletics with one hand while slashing four sports with the other was hampered by a federal judge who granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Division II university from dropping the women’s swimming and tennis programs.
Seven members of the women’s swimming and diving team and two women’s tennis players allege in a sex discrimination class action lawsuit filed in August that by dropping the programs, the Irvine school is violating Title IX.
Judge Fred W. Slaughter agreed, ordering that the injunction remain in place for the duration of the lawsuit. Concordia must immediately reinstate the women’s teams and provide them “with funding, staffing, and all other benefits commensurate with their status as varsity intercollegiate teams,” Slaughter wrote in a 19-page ruling.
Concordia announced the cuts of the men’s and women’s swimming and tennis teams in May, stating the school had “determined that the current model is not sustainable in the midst of increasing operational costs, facility limitations, and significant changes in the collegiate athletics landscape.”
But the cuts came at a time when Concordia was plowing $25.5 million into upgrading the university’s athletic infrastructure. A week after athletic director Crystal Rosenthal calculated the cuts would save $550,000 a year, she sent an email to unaffected athletes boasting that major improvements would be made to Concordia’s athletics infrastructure.
Rosenthal, who is also the school’s softball coach, wrote: “We are currently in the midst of a major $17.5-million construction project that includes a new 19,000-square-foot facility featuring a state-of-the-art weight room, locker rooms, and modern training room space. This facility represents our belief in the future of our athletic programs and our student-athletes.”
She added that more than $8 million had been earmarked for upgrades to the baseball, softball and soccer/track/lacrosse facilities — including the installation of outdoor lights.
The lawsuit followed in August and Slaughter issued the preliminary injunction Friday. Arthur Bryant, the lawyer representing the female athletes, said that women comprised 59% of Concordia’s students but received only 51.2% of the roster spots for sports.
“The court’s thorough, compelling decision confirms what we said from the start: CUI’s decision to eliminate the women’s swimming and diving and tennis teams was a flagrant violation of Title IX,” Bryant said in a statement. “Concordia needs to add about 100 opportunities for women to reach gender equity. It should not be eliminating any women’s teams.”
The concurrent spending on infrastructure was particularly galling to female athletes and some alumni, according to SwimSwam. The swimming and water polo teams train off-campus and place few operational demands on the school. The swimming program had 23 men and 25 women on its rosters last season.
Concordia, a Lutheran-affiliated school with about 1,500 undergraduates that moved from the NAIA to NCAA Division II in 2017, is one of several universities whose efforts to trim athletic programs have been thwarted by courts.
A federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction against Stephen F. Austin State in August, preventing the school from eliminating its women’s beach volleyball, bowling and golf programs. According to Sportico, at least eight other schools since 2020 have been ordered to reinstate programs after Title IX challenges: Iowa, William & Mary, UConn, Dartmouth, Clemson, East Carolina, North Carolina Pembroke and Dickinson College.
