Hunter
10/03/22
The University of Iowa has received good marks in their first Title IX compliance report, required after a gender equity lawsuit.
The Gazette reports that the annual report, headed by Tulane Sports Law Program director Gabriel Feldman, found compliance in 13 areas and no “material issues” generally. He added that only the University of Iowa’s women’s gymnastics facility is not on par with what he called “the impressive facilities used by most of the other UI teams.”
Future plans to build a multi-million dollar gymnastics and spirit squad training center should rectify that situation, although the newspaper points out that a budget or construction timeline hasn’t been presented to the Board of Regents since they were given permission to start planning the project last November.
The compliance report stemmed from a lawsuit filed by several female UI swimmers after their program was dropped in August 2020. A federal judge ruled that the university temporarily reinstate women’s swimming and diving while the case was being litigated. The settlement reached reinstated the sport for at least seven years, added women’s wrestling, capped the women’s rowing roster, and hired Feldmen to monitor the University’s compliance with Title IX gender equity.
After previously falling short in equal athletics opportunities for several years, the report says that the UI appears to have achieved nearly exact proportionality in 2021-22.
Feldman will monitor compliance at the University of Iowa for another two years, as part of the settlement.