East Carolina University is reinstating its women’s swimming and diving and tennis teams after cutting them last spring for budget problems made worse by COVID-19. The announcement Thursday comes on the heels of players threatening a gender discrimination lawsuit.
“While we were able to partially address the unprecedented financial challenges,” ECU Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert said at a media briefing Thursday afternoon. “We knew then, as we know now, that compliance with Title IX and commitment to female athletes would require more action.”
ECU hired Title IX consultant on how best to address their compliance with Title IX, the federal gender discrimination statute, while also addressing their financial issues at the Greenville campus, according to Gilbert. That plan has been “accelerated and modified,” he said.
The university expected to save about $2.6 million by eliminating the four programs and reinstating the two women’s teams will leave the department with about $1.2 million in savings, Gilbert said.
The athletic department also saw salary reductions, furloughs and operational changes, which has saved about $9 million overall, but the issue is bringing in revenue, according to Gilbert.
ECU still has the same financial challenges it had in May, but the women’s teams are coming back.
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The athletic department will start hiring coaches and then recruiting student-athletes to these women’s programs. The teams will compete in Fall 2021 or later, depending on when the coaching staff is hired, he said.
ECU cut four sports in May 2020 as part of a plan to address a more than $10 million athletic department budget deficit that was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The cuts affected nine coaches and 68 athletes, whose scholarships were honored.
Gilbert said the decision to eliminate the programs was “difficult and gut-wrenching” and was a financial decision, not based on performance.
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ECU has reached out to both former coaches about leading the programs again, but Gilbert said he has some “fence-mending” to do with them.
Currently, four women’s tennis players and one student-athlete on the women’s swimming and diving team are still on scholarship and on campus. Three walk-ons for the swim team are also on campus. ECU has reached out to those players to determine their NCAA eligibility and if they will continue with the program. However, the new head coaches will make final decisions about the roster.
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ECU swimming and diving alumni immediately raised money to try to save the program when the program was cut in May. Then months later, student-athletes threatened legal action.
Members of the women’s swimming and diving and women’s tennis teams threatened a class-action lawsuit in November, alleging the cuts violate Title IX, the News & Observer previously reported.
Arthur Bryant, a lawyer with the Oakland, Calif., law firm Bailey Glasser, represented the students. He sent ECU Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson a letter threatening the lawsuit, arguing that eliminating the teams is a “flagrant violation” of Title IX.
Bryant pointed out the disproportional representation of scholarship opportunities at ECU, which is part of Title IX compliance. Nearly 60% of ECU students are women, but scholarships are roughly allocated 50-50 between men and women, according to the letter.
“Based on these facts, unless ECU agrees to reinstate the women’s teams or has some plans for compliance with Title IX we do not yet know, we will seek a preliminary injunction immediately preserving the teams,” the letter says.
The university knew a legal battle was a possibility, as it is any time college sports are cut, Gilbert said. The lawsuit certainly pointed out some issues, but the university made a “business decision” at the time, Gilbert said.
At the briefing, Mitchelson said ECU planned to make adjustments and manage rosters to meet Title IX standards. He said he didn’t know if they’d be at this point today without the legal threat, but “it became clearer and clearer even through self-scrutiny” that changes were necessary.
The university saw an increase in female undergraduate enrollment and the NCAA granted athletes an extra year of eligibility, which impacted the situation along with COVID-19.
ECU also agreed to pay about $190,000 of attorney’s fees for the players.
Mitchelson said the decision to pay that is part of the settlement, which overall is a good thing for the university as “litigation is considerably more expensive.”
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The university sent Bryant a letter on Dec. 23 addressing the issue, confirming its plans to reinstate the sports programs and outlining future steps it would take.
In addition to restarting the programs, ECU said it will develop and implement a Gender Equity Plan over the next year that will provide “a blueprint for assessing, monitoring and enhancing gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.” Student-athletes on each team will be involved in that process, according to the university.
“It’s vital to the sustainability of ECU athletic programs that female athletes have real opportunities to complete in sports,” Gilbert said.
He said ECU has no plans to add or cut any other sports at this time.
