The University of Kentucky’s yearslong battle over Title IX compliance is ongoing.
Former UK students Ala Hassan and Lisa Niblock filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 alleging the school violated Title IX by not providing equal opportunities for women to participate in varsity sports. They argued that UK should have to add a women’s team in lacrosse, field hockey and/or equestrian. U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell ruled that the university was not in violation of the gender-equity law in the Eastern District of Kentucky on Oct. 28. Iowa-based attorney Lori Bullock filed a notice of appeal to the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the following month.
The plaintiffs filed an appellant’s brief Friday night, according to online court records. In an appellant’s brief, the plaintiffs are tasked with outlining why the lower court’s decision should be reversed. They asserted that Caldwell erred in her assertion that the plaintiffs “had not shown female students at the University of Kentucky have sufficient ability to field varsity equestrian, field hockey, and/or lacrosse teams.”The plaintiffs outline their issues with the lower court’s decision as follows:
“Whether the district court erred by discounting survey results that showed female students at the University of Kentucky were able to compete at the varsity level merely because those students did not leave contact information.”
Whether the district court erred by asking if members of club teams who receive no coaching, have limited practice time, and get almost no university support — have Division I, varsity-level abilities, rather than assessing whether those club teams offered a foundation upon which to build a varsity program.
Bullock and co-counsel Jill Zwagerman did not respond to email or phone call requests to discuss the suit. UK spokesperson Jay Blanton provided the following statement:
“The University is reviewing the brief and will respond at the appropriate time. However, the University is confident the Sixth Circuit will affirm Judge Caldwell’s well-reasoned decision.”
Regarding next steps, UK has the opportunity to file an appellee’s brief (a legal document arguing why the lower court’s decision should be upheld) within 30 days, according to federal rules of appellate procedure. The plaintiffs will then have 21 days to file a reply brief.
From there, according to federal appellate procedure rules, oral arguments will take place “unless a panel of three judges who have examined the briefs and record unanimously agrees that oral argument is unnecessary for any of the following reasons: (A) the appeal is frivolous; (B) the dispositive issue or issues have been authoritatively decided; or (C) the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the briefs and record, and the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument.”
In the Eastern District of Kentucky last fall, Caldwell ruled that UK did not meet two parts of the three-part test used to measure participation opportunities in accordance with a 1979 interpretation of Title IX.
UK tried multiple times over the course of the case to have Caldwell not apply the three-part test, most recently citing a Supreme Court ruling from June that overturned a 40-year precedent directing courts to defer to government agency interpretations of “ambiguous” laws. Caldwell declined each time.
Under the three-part test, a school can be in compliance with the participation aspects of Title IX in any one of the following ways:
Participation opportunities for men and women is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.
The institution has a history and continuing practice of expanding participation opportunities responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.The institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.
Caldwell wrote in her ruling that the plaintiffs had proven UK “does not provide females (sic) students with intercollegiate varsity participation opportunities in numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollment.” In the 2023-24 academic year, women made up 58.9% of UK’s enrollment. Less than 51% of UK’s varsity athletes participate in women’s sports, according to the school’s fiscal year 2024 NCAA financial report.
