The National Women’s Law Center has filed a complaint with the Education Department against 25 colleges and universities which the Center accuses of discriminating against female athletes in scholarship funding. The Education Department has 135 days to respond to the complaints which come under Title IX, the federal law banning discrimination in education based on sex. The law, passed in 1972, celebrates its 25th anniversary on June 23.
According to Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center, “If the 25 schools…awarded female athletes their fair share, young women at these schools would receive a total of $5,076,615 more per year in scholarship.” The average disparity in scholarship money awarded to men and women athletes was $1,000 per year, but women at Vanderbilt in Tennessee receive $6,765 less each year than men. Two months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court concurred with previous rulings that Brown University discriminated against female athletes and ordered the school to increase the number of varsity team positions open to women.
