Run Date: 09/23/07
By Viv Bernstein
WeNews correspondent
Title IX is often equated with equal opportunity in athletics but the 1972 law also addresses sexual harassment. If the Supreme Court decides to hear a case involving a star college soccer coach it could clarify this aspect of gender-equity law.
(WOMENSENEWS)--Nine years have passed since former player Melissa Jennings accused the most successful women's college soccer coach in the country, the University of North Carolina's Anson Dorrance, of sexual harassment in a case that shocked the sport.
Over time, Jennings moved from college student to teacher in Illinois while Dorrance added to his collection of national championships at North Carolina, now at 19 and counting. But the suit was never tried in court.
Now it might be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that ultimately could have significant implications for Title IX, the groundbreaking 1972 law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive federal funds.
Title IX is most often associated with equal opportunity among men and women in college athletics. The law also addresses, however, sexual harassment in education, an issue on college campuses throughout the country.
A study by the Washington-based American Association of University Women found that 62 percent of female college students, and 61 percent of men, reported having been sexually harassed at their university.
Jennings was 17 years old when she joined the powerhouse North Carolina team in 1996 that had produced such World Cup stars as Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly. But in the two years Jennings was on the team before being cut following the 1997 season, she claimed that Dorrance repeatedly pried into the personal lives of his players with degrading questions and comments, and made foul remarks about the appearance of some athletes. Some comments were directed at Jennings, but many targeted other players.
Jennings joined with Debbie Keller, a national player of the year for the Tar Heels, and filed suit in U.S. District Court in North Carolina in August 1998. Keller, who also accused Dorrance of inappropriate physical contact, later settled out of court for $70,000 along with a requirement that Dorrance undergo sensitivity training.
Jennings Persisted
Jennings continued on with the suit that claimed Dorrance violated Title IX by creating a hostile environment at North Carolina that denied her the benefits of college sports and that the university acted with deliberate indifference in failing to address it when informed of the charge.
The case was dismissed by a district court judge in Greensboro, N.C., just before it was scheduled to go to trial in 2004. Jennings appealed, and a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the decision, 2-1, in 2006. Jennings appealed once more and in April, the Fourth Circuit ruled 8-2 in her favor, finally sending the case back to District Court for trial.
But in July, the North Carolina attorney general's office representing the school and Dorrance appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has scheduled Jennings v. North Carolina for conference on Sept. 24 to decide if it will be heard this session.
If the Supreme Court denies the appeal, the case is expected to finally be heard in District Court perhaps early next year.
[To read the entire story, go to: http://www.womensenews.org/ ]
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