The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit refused on Wednesday to block James Madison University’s plan to cut 10 athletics teams to meet gender-equity requirements under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The group Equity in Athletics filed a lawsuit in 2007, charging that the university’s plan intentionally discriminated by eliminating seven men’s teams and just three women’s teams.
The group had sought to block the cuts while its lawsuit proceeded, but the three-judge appeals panel upheld a federal district-court decision not to do so because the group had failed to show that it had a strong chance of winning its suit. —Eric Kelderman
