Delaware State U. Settles Title IX Lawsuit Over Equestrian Team

Delaware State University has settled a gender-equity lawsuit stemming from its decision in January to eliminate its women’s equestrian team, according to The News Journal, a newspaper in Wilmington, Del. Under the terms of the settlement, which was reached days before the case was scheduled for trial, the university will reinstate the team and commit to complying with Title IX, the federal gender-equity law cited by the plaintiffs, by 2013. The settlement specifies that Delaware State will comply by increasing the proportion of female students who play varsity sports to near parity with the share of the student body who are women. That’s a tall order for the university: According to the newspaper, the student body is 61 percent female, but only 42 percent of varsity athletes are women. Three years ago, The Chronicle calculated that Delaware State had the worst record in this area of any Division I institution.