Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut has agreed to a settlement of lawsuit which claimed that the university was in noncompliance with Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX bars gender discrimination in all aspects of higher education. The suit was filed in 2009 when the university announced that it was eliminating the women’s volleyball team. Women make up 62 percent of the undergraduate student body at Quinnipiac University.
Since the suit was filed, Quinnipiac has added women’s golf and women’s rugby and expanded the women’s track program. Under the consent decree reached between the parties, the university agrees to retain all of its current women’s teams, including volleyball. Also the university has agreed to allocate more athletic scholarships to women’s sports and to spend $5 million to upgrade facilities for women’s sports teams. The university will add $450,000 to its annual budget to increase salaries for coaches of women’s teams and to add additional support staff. The university also agreed to provide women increased access to athletic training and conditioning services.