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By DOUG TUCKER AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An anti-Title IX ruling by a federal judge in Michigan has sent shock waves throughout college athletics, but only one thing seems certain — the issue is headed straight for the Supreme Court. “I think that’s a good bet,” said Ruth Berkey, the NCAA's director of championship events for women. Berkey, like many in upper-level athletic management, declined for her comment until she can personally review the ruling. But the power of the federal government is at the heart of the issue ruled upon Monday in Detroit by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Joiner. The decision came in a suit brought against Ann Arbor Public Schools by Arthur Othen Othen demanded that a women’s golf tear be started at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School so his daughter could compete in the sport. Joiner ruled that colleges and public schools don’t have to provide equal athletic programs which is to say equal expenditures — for men and women so long as the sport in ques tion doesn’t receive federal assistance. And that is almost exactly the position taken by the NCAA in a class action suit now awaiting docket assignment in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., — that athletic depart ments are self-sufficient and the federal government can't dictate how they must spend their self-generated funds. “The judge's ruling could almost have been lifted verbatim from the brief filed by the An AP Sports Analysis NCAA,” said Steve Hatchell, an assistant commissioner of the Big Eight, which has pioneered women’s programs among athletic conferences. This has put a smile on the faces of athletic directors across the country, ’ said Charles M. Nevias, executive director of the College Foot ball Association.” ‘I think the ramifications will be disastrous,” said Chuck Guerrier, director of the Women's Law Fund in Cleveland and author of a book on Title IX. An attorney for the plaintiff in the Michigan case, Jean L. King, says an appeal to the 6th U.S. District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is being considered. But other cases raising the same point of law are pending in other cities and the ques tion, nearly everyone agrees, ultimately will be decided by the Supreme Court. A Department of Education spokesman said Friday in Washington that the department would decline comment until it sees the court ruling The immediate results of the Joiner deci sion are open to debate. ‘There isn't any effect, ’ said King. ‘The ruling applies only to the Eastern Distrit of Michigan and there are three state laws that prohibit sex discrimination. ohane Eases Sakes Ue the Tenens gener investigators for the Office of Civil who have been inspecting athletic cae throughout the country for discriminatory practices against women. “If you're an athletic director sitting out there somewhere and DC investigators show up, you can say, ‘I don’t think you have any standing because a federal judge in Michigan has ruled that you do not,'’’ said one athletic official. “Besides, the Reagan administration has been saying they want to get government out of our lives, to reduce regulations. “The OC tries to bluff and scare you. They've been out there counting showerheads and locker stalls. Now the institution will be in a much more solid negotiating position. They don't have to acquiesce to everything the in vestigators say.”’ Ironically, Joiner’s ruling came only six weeks after women's athletics scored a major victory at the NCAA convention in Miami. By thin margins, the NCAA membership voted to sponsor women’s championships and bring women into the governing stucture of the formerly male-dominated association. And the NCAA hinted at the time it might negotiate a compromise on its Kansas City suit or forget it altogether. “This will have no effect on the NCAA's committment to women's athletics,” an NCAA spokesman said. Nevertheless, it ultimately could have an ef fect if the decision is upheld by the Supreme Court. College athletics was one of the first businesses in the county to yelp from infla tion’s bite. And the money crunch is worsen ing every year.
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Odessa American
Odessa, Texas, US
Sat, Feb 28, 1981
Page 16
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Tracy T.
USA 11 Jun 2026
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