Plaintiff Christine Ng and lawyer Kristen Galles attend an AAUW state convention
This week, several former women wrestlers and the plaintiffs of one of the five sex discrimination cases AAUW currently supports are celebrating a win in their long legal battle against the University of California, Davis.
From the 1990s through 2001, UC Davis had a women’s wrestling program. In fall 2001, however, the women wrestlers were informed that their team would be eliminated, even though they had chosen to attend UC Davis specifically to participate in wrestling. The women and their coach met with school officials over the matter, but the school officials would not budge and refused to let them wrestle.
In 2003, the women students filed a complaint in federal court, Mansourian, et al. v. Regents of the University of California, et al., against the university for discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause.
In 2008, the federal judge ruled against the plaintiffs, saying they had failed to give the campus notice that they were making an allegation against the women’s athletic program. Notably, the federal judge did not rule on whether or not discrimination had actually occurred.
In October 2009, oral arguments were heard for the case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. On February 8, the appeals court overturned the lower court judge’s ruling, denied summary judgment, and ruled that the case should be heard by a trial court.
Plaintiff Christine Ng said, “We are thrilled. We wanted our day in court, not only for us, but as an opportunity to stand up for all girls and women trying to participate in contact sports where stigmas against women remain strong.”
Since 2005, AAUW has been supporting their case through financial and organizational support—including signing an amicus brief for the 9th Circuit in 2009. We, too, are thrilled with this latest ruling and hope the plaintiffs will find justice in court.
