Biediger v. Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac University (Quinnipiac) (defendant) was a private university and member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Quinnipiac had seven men’s and 12 women’s varsity athletic teams. Quinnipiac announced its intention to cut three of its sports teams, including women’s volleyball, which had a roster of 12 female players, and create a new competitive cheerleading team with a roster of at least 30 female players. For purposes of compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), the university counted athletes based on rostered players on the first day of competitions, which resulted in 166 male and 274 female athletes, or 62.27 percent female athletes. There were 2,168 male and 3,518 female enrolled students, meaning 61.87 percent of students were female. According to the university, then, it complied with Title IX because it offered substantially proportional athletic-participation opportunities for women and men. Five women’s-varsity-volleyball players (the players) (plaintiffs) sued Quinnipiac alleging that eliminating the women’s volleyball team violated Title IX. The players claimed that genuine athletic-participation opportunities were not substantially proportional for women and men for several reasons, including that competitive cheerleading was not a varsity sport, the university’s count of female athletes was intentionally manipulated to be too high, and the count of male athletes was too low. The court held a trial, hearing extensive expert- and lay-witness testimony on the sports programs, roster preparation, enrollment data, competitive cheerleading, and Quinnipiac’s plans.