While I was out of the country, in the end of June and July, the Fresno State Title IX discrimination case went to trial and the jury issued their verdict. Though this is old news now, I’ve not had a chance to comment on this important case since I’ve been away. So, I’m going to do it now.
For those who are unfamiliar with the case – in a nut shell – the Fresno State former women’s volleyball coach, Lindy Vivas, sued the university charging that she was dismissed from her position in retaliation for her efforts to achieve gender equity in the Fresno athletic program. She charged that she was discriminated against because she is a woman and because she was perceived as a lesbian. The jury agreed with Vivas to the tune of a 5.8 million dollar award. The university had offered a $15,000 settlement. The jury’s verdict and monetary award was a decisive victory for Vivas, Title IX and those of us who abhor discrimination against lesbians and gay men (or those perceived to be) in athletics.
Opponents of Title IX often try to intimidate women coaches and administrators into silence and discourage them from challenging gender inequities in athletics by playing the “evil lesbian” card. In the past this strategy has worked and still does in some cases. Let’s hope that the outcome of the Fresno State case puts other homophobic and gender equity challenged university and athletic administrators on notice that this kind of bigotry will no longer be tolerated.
In the Fresno State case the administers looked (and apparently acted) like members of a preadolescent boys-only club in somebody’s backyard about 20 years ago. The descriptions of their arrogance and unprofessional behavior made it easy for the jury to decide in Vivas’s favor. According to multiple testimonies they even celebrated an “Ugly Women Athlete” Day complete with posters. I remember something like this happening in the third grade, I think. What were these guys thinking? Apparently, they weren’t.
In the past several months we’ve seen at least three discrimination cases successfully settled or won:
• Former basketball player, Jen Harris, won a large monetary settlement in her anti-lesbian discrimination case against Penn State (and coach Rene Portland resigned a few weeks later).
• Former Birmingham, Alabama high school girls basketball coach, Roderick Jackson won his case against the school system charging that they retaliated against him by firing him after he complained about the unfair treatment the girls team received
• Now the Fresno State case
These cases demonstrate the importance of coaches and athletes standing up to discrimination to send a message to other schools that gender and sexual orientation discrimination will not be tolerated and that schools who are caught participating in or condoning this kind of discrimination pay a big price, not only monetarily, but also in reputation. Imagine trying to recruit athletes to Fresno State right now.
Plus, the troubles for Fresno are not over yet. The former women’s basketball coach and the former senior women’s athletic administrator there also have lawsuits pending charging the school with more sex discrimination. Despite this, Fresno State has vowed to appeal the Vivas judgment and fight the additional charges. Earth to Fresno State: Settle the other cases now while you can and then clean up your act. It wasn’t the women athletes at Fresno who were ugly, the jury decided it was the sexism and homophobia of several men in leadership positions there that was ugly.
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2 comments:
Hurrah for Lindy Vivas! (But, my sympathies to California's taxpayers, who will have to pay the bill.)
I just finished reading Lillian Faderman's memoir, "Naked in the Promised Land," much of which is about her years as a professor of English at--guess where?--Fresno State. The longer Faderman was there, the "outer" she was as a lesbian (and a single mother). Still, Faderman was able to climb the academic and administrative career ladder.
Fresno State, like many American universities, appears to have two separate schools: the academic, where queer theory is now a commonplace subject, and the athletic, still in the era of the love that dare not speak its name. I do wonder how student-athletes cope with the cognitive dissonance.
The Fresno Bee's Matt James has a fascinating column about former women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein's sexual discrimination suit against Fresno State. This isn't a simple slam-dunk of a woman coach wronged. A couple of snippets:
"...The Stacy Johnson-Klein era at Fresno State was the crazy house party that everybody talks about for years because it was so much fun (unless you were one of her players), but nobody bothered to clean up....
...How about a discussion about why the Fresno State athletic department couldn't drag people to women's basketball games until it hired a coach who looked good and wore low-cut blouses?
What does that say about a community? Society? What does it say about the 55-year-old men who bought season tickets back then and wouldn't come to the NCAA Regional -- one that included UConn and Louisiana State and the legendary N.C. State coach Kay Yow in perhaps her last game -- in the same building last spring?..."
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/james/story/164128.html
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