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DETROIT (AP) — Title IX re ceived its first major setback this week when a U.S. District judge ruled that colleges and public schools do not have to provide equal athletic programs for men and wom en if they don’t use federal funds for those specific sports. “The court finds ... that the reach of Title IX extends only to those education programs or activities which receive direct federal finan cial assistance,” Judge Charles W. Joiner ruled. The judge's decision Monday stemmed from a 1980 lawsuit against Ann Arbor Public Schools by Arthur Othen, who demanded that a wom en's golf team be started at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. Joiner said the original intent of Congress regarding sex discrimina tion and Title IX of the 1972 Educa tion Act has been misinterpreted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal ruling states no one shall discriminate, on the basis of sex, in operating any education pro gram or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Ann Arbor Schools Super intendent Harry Howard said the Joiner decision will not affect wom en's sports programs in general or the planned women’s golf team “‘un less we get into a general cutback in all programs.” Shock waves from Joiner’s ruling may be slow in spreading but the decision drew swift response from Chuck Guerrier, director of the Women’s Law Fund in Cleveland and author of a recent book on Title IX. “The argument is one that has been put forward for a number of years,” Guerrier said. “The switch is: they've found a judge that bought it. “I find it discouraging. Granted, it’s only the decision of one court and one judge, but that’s a start. “I think the ramifications will be disastrous. A lot of school boards will read this decision and say, ‘Great! Now we don’t have to offer anything in women’s athletics if we don't want to.’ It gives them a legal justification to refuse to be respon sive to the needs of women.’ Don Canham, athletic director at the University of Michigan, called the decision a landmark. “I don’t have any trouble at all saying, ‘I want my women’s tennis team to have the same resources as the men’s team,’’’ Canham said. ‘But I can't afford to put the same money into women’s sports that I have to put into football.” Othen’s attorney, Jean L. King, disagreed with Canham. “I don't think you call a decision at the district level ‘landmark,”’ King said. ‘It’s a first, and it’s of great concern to a lot of people.” The question ultimately might have to be decided by the US. Supreme Court, King said. “The decision is a matter of interpreting what Congress in tended. Howard said he welcomed the Joiner decision because it may ‘slow down a few people ready to file lawsuits every time we turn around.
Newspaper Details
Kalispell Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell, Montana, US
Thu, Feb 26, 1981
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Tracy T.
USA 11 Jun 2026
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