Lefty4289's Weblog

Title IX Does Not Apply In Grenada

lefty4289 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:01:59 +0000

Saint George’s University is in Grenada but is still funded by the United States. Erika Phillips was a student at Saint George’s and tried to sue a university employee for sexually harassed her multiple times. However, she tried to do it in an American court who ruled that even though some of the students are funded by the United States, Title IX does not affect school outside of the US territory. So even though the courts would have liked to do something they couldn’t interfere with it.

I think the courts did the right thing in deciding not to interfere with Phillips problem. Even though she is an American and everybody probably felt bad for her we cant interfere with another countries problems. Of course you could also say that we always stick our nose into places that it doesn’t belong but we did good in keeping it out this time.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Alumna Threatens Suit Against High School

lefty4289 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:09:18 +0000

Twanda Gatlin was a member of the girls basketball team at Bogalusa high school from 1988 to 1992. But recently she offered to help the team by coaching the first few weeks of the season. The reason she offered to do this in the first place is because the head coach is also the football coach. Due to this he is unavailable to coach during the first few weeks because football is usually still in season. The school denied Gatlin’s request though because they said the head coach had to always be present for practice and games. In order to help out the team Gatlin was thinking about filing a lawsuit but since she is not affiliated to the school in any direct way she cant. One of the kids on the team or their parents could file something against the school if they decided to though. However, Gatlin could still file a complaint at the Department of Educations office if she wanted to.

The school is very wrong in not allowing the girls basketball team to start its practices until the football season ends because sometimes that can last forever if they go to states. The girls team also needs those first few weeks because usually games start after just one week of practice and if they don’t get to play then they are way behind. I don’t understand though why they cant hire an assistant coach that can run practice the first few week and then just help out the rest of season. It would not hurt anything to do that because the head coach could still talk to the assistant and let him know what the team needed to work on.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Can Title IX Benefit Disabled Athletes

lefty4289 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:36:55 +0000

I think that joining Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act would be a very good idea. This would allow many disabled people who enjoy playing sports to represent the schools they are attending. They would not even half to be given a team that is a part of the NCAA. As long as the students with disabilities were given the opportunity to join club teams then they should be happy. Wheelchair basketball is probably one of the biggest sports that disabled people play and it seems like a lot of fun. School that would offer club teams for disabled citizens would also gain a lot of respect and possible a few more very smart students.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

University of Hawaii Coach Drops Title IX Suit

lefty4289 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:52:32 +0000

Carmyn James is the women’s track and field coach at the University of Hawaii and in September of this year she filed a lawsuit against the University. The lawsuit was made because James did not believe the university was offering equal opportunities to her female athletes. However, on Sunday it was reported that Carmyn James was dropping her lawsuit. She said this was because of her faith in the administration of doing the right thing after they had a few meeting on the subject.

This is the way that any Title IX issues should be handled. You hear so many times about the school firing its employees if they threaten to file a lawsuit against them. But, by James and the university talking it out both sides are happy because she still has her job and hopefully the team will get what it deserves. The school also avoids a lawsuit against them and most likely a rather large pay out for damages.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Increasing the Pipeline for Female Engineering Projects

lefty4289 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:32:48 +0000

The University of Pennsylvania is taking steps in the right driection by starting a new program that will help younger women who may be interested in engineering get started. A lot of secondary schools have issues with their math and science prgrams. These programs are usually rather hard in college to get a degree in and people can get much better paying jobs then a teacher. With this new program there would hopefully be more teachers and they will be better trained to help the young students. Hopefully this will allow students to be more prepared when they make it to college and they will have a higher graduation rate.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

En Banc Court Sends Dorrance Case to Trial

lefty4289 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:23:24 +0000

Melissa Jennings was a backup goalkeeper at the University of North Carolina from 1996 to 1998. The head coach of the team ever since it was created in 1979 is Anson Dorrance who has led the team to 19 national championships. However, when Jennings was on the team she complained about Dorrance’s sexual harassment and the way he ran his team. She accused him of telling the girls he had fantasies about them and always asking who they were having sex with. When Jennings tried to file a complaint the schools lawyer told her just to work it out with the coach. After this occurred she tried to take her case to a federal court but was denied twice by the federal courts. However, the courts then decided to meet En Banc so that all the judges of the 4th circuit could debate and decide what to do about this case. While they were together they chose to reverse the decision and are going to have a trial in 2008.

This is a very touchy subject because the coach is a man on a women’s team. If you have the same sex coach as your players you can get a little more lee way in what is acceptable to say or do. But if they are of the opposite gender people can take offense a lot easier. However, in this case if what Jennings said is true then the coach is not even walking the line anymore. He has over stepped his boundaries by a long way. I cant understand why it took 10 years for anybody to even look at the case either though. It sounded like it was rather clear on what was going on and with how touchy everybody is today I would have though the coach would have been fired a long time ago.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2007/04/en-banc-court-sends-dorrance-case-to.html

Colorado Settles With Lisa Simpson For $2.5 Million

lefty4289 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:53:36 +0000

Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore will each receive large sums of money for their claims against the the University of Colorado for there lack of supervision over the football recruits. Simpson will receive 2.5 million dollars from her claim while Gilmore will receive 350 thousand. Simpson does seem happy about the steps that Colorado is taking to ensure this does not happen to anybody else.

If a school brings anybody in for any reason they should be responsible for their actions. Its just like when we bring somebody into our dorms. We are vouching for them when they are signed in and in case they end up stealing something its partly our fault. It may not seem fair but it is the right way to take care of this kind of matter. The University of Colorado did not watch its recruits and therefor they deserve to get in trouble for it. However, the recruits who performed the illegal actions also need to be punished in some way because it is mostly their faults.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Fresno Jury Awards Title IX Plaintiff $19 Million

lefty4289 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:05:20 +0000

After 8 weeks of trial a jury found that Stacy Johnson-Klein had been discriminated against by Fresno State based on her sex. The jury then awarded Stacy 19.1 million dollars that would cover her back pay, future pay, and emotional or psychological damages she has received. The trial was brought about when Stacy was fired from her job as head women’s basketball coach. She had threatened to file Title IX law suits against the school in order to equalize the women’s and men’s basketball teams. But, because the AD of the School was “sexually reckless and a sexist” she lost her job. Then the school blamed her firing on her disciplinary policy and that she had taken painkillers from a player. However, the men’s team had also had drug problems and nobody got in trouble. So the school ended up making itself look worse and worse.

In a way this is what Title IX is all about. The women’s basketball team will end up becoming equal with the men’s on almost every issue. The coach also ended up in a really good position because even though she was fired she was able to gain a ton of money. I think it is way to much money but it makes a statement and hopefully other school will pay attention and be more cautious about firing employees. So by Stacy Johnson-Klein doing the right thing her girls basketball team is equal and she came out on top of the school.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

FCGU Softball Coach Fights Dismissal

lefty4289 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:34:38 +0000

Gina Ramacci used to be the assistant softball coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. But, the school decided not to renew her contract after a student accused her of misconduct in a sexual nature. An investigation into the matter though found no wrong doing had been done. Ramacci does have a reason for her being fired though and that is because she is openly gay. Not to long ago another female coach was fired from her job that was also gay. All Ramacci is asking for in her case though is for her job back and back pay.

Nobody should be fired for their sexual preference in any job. But, it does happen and it is something becoming more prevalent as more people become open about it. While this is still going on the workplace may be more equal for minorities but in a way homosexuals are now going through exactly what the minorities did in the past. In Ramacci’s case if she was found not guilty of committing any sexual violations with one of her athletes then she should not have been fired. However, if in fact there was some evidence against her then i can understand the reason she was not brought back to coach more. Some players would not want to come to a school where one of the coaches has been sexually active with another player.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Coach Files Retaliation Suit Against University of Nevada-Reno

lefty4289 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:39:49 +0000

The women’s soccer coach at the University of Nevada-Reno, Terri Patraw, was very successful during her time at the school. The team had record breaking seasons in the past two years and had just signed a two and a half year contract extension. However, just weeks after blowing the whistle on some Title IX violations throughout the school she was fired. Her team had been receiving less access to locker room facilities then most programs and the head men’s golf coach was going to pay both the male and female athletes for participating.

If it really is the case that Patraw was fired for being the whistle blower then something needs to be fixed. She should not be punished for following NCAA rules and wanting her girls to have equal opportunities as any other team. Everything that she did is perfectly fine and i think the school should have to pay the rest of her contract even if they don’t bring her back to coach.

http://title-ix.blogspot.com/