Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Senior Writer and Professor, Sports Media, Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College, staurows@ithaca.edu
On July 9, 2024, Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) notified all current and prospective men athletes who are or are expected to participate in intercollegiate that they may be part of a class of plaintiffs who have rights under a proposed settlement in Joshua Navarro et al. v. Florida Institute of Technology. Comments or objections to the settlement must be received no later than Thursday, September 26, 2024 by the Clerk of the Court for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Orlando Division with a copy also delivered to Plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Background
In late June of 2022, administrators at Florida Tech announced plans to cut five varsity sports from its athletic program including cross country/distance track (men’s and women’s); golf (men’s); and rowing (men’s and women’s) while transitioning those sports to club status. The decision would have resulted in a reduction in varsity sport offerings from 17 teams to 11 teams.
As explained by athletic director Jaime Jesse (Affidavit in Navarro v. Florida Institute of Technology, 2023) the decision to reduce the number of varsity athletic teams in the department was not a cost-cutting measure per se, but rather a strategic decision to reinvest limited resources in a smaller number of sports programs to ensure their long-term competitive success within the NCAA Division II Sunshine State Conference. At the time the cuts were announced scholarship athletes on the affected teams were assured that their scholarships would be honored through their graduations.
Within a week of the announcement some of the athletes most affected by the decision mobilized and sought reinstatement of their programs. They challenged the rationale that the decision reflected a priority on offering competitive athletic opportunities for athletes when a decision to demote existing varsity programs to club sports was a direct contradiction of that goal. Athletes negatively affected by the cuts also pointed out that the timing of the announcement, which happened after the NCAA Division II transfer portal had closed, placed those athletes and incoming athletes at a significant disadvantage to pursue playing opportunities elsewhere, even with an extension on the transfer portal date.
Unable to persuade Florida Tech to reverse course, Plaintiffs led by Joshua Navarro (at the time a junior rower) joined with six other men athletes to file a lawsuit in October of 2022, alleging that the institution’s decision to cut men’s sports violated their rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et. Seq. (Title IX). The Plaintiffs claimed that they had been denied access to equal participation opportunities; equal treatment; and equal scholarship opportunities when compared to women athletes and they sought preliminary injunctive relief.
Based on information from annual reports filed with the U.S. Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, Florida Tech appears to have been depriving men athletes of their fair share of athletic opportunities for a number of years. The complaint and an expert’s report documented that the athletic department had been offering disproportionately fewer athletic opportunities to men athletes compared to their enrollment for many years, as early as the 2003-2004 academic year (Lopiano, 2022). By terminating the football team entirely in 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic and then cutting three men’s sports in 2022, Florida Tech faced an uphill battle in meeting the requirements of Title IX’s three-part test of athletic participation. Under the three-part test, schools can comply by offering athletic participation opportunities to men and women proportional to enrollment. Failing that, a school can demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex or demonstrate that the menu of varsity sport offerings is responsive to the existing interests and abilities of athletes at the school.
The history of Florida Tech’s failure to comply with Title IX’s requirements under the three-part test of athletic participation was compounded with the decision to demote the three men’s programs in 2022. Because the program already favored women athletes by offering them a disproportionately higher number of athletic participation opportunities and more in athletic financial assistance beyond their proportional representation, Florida Tech was shortchanging men athletes by more than $450,000 in athletic scholarship assistance in 2020-2021, with accumulated shortfalls over the years in excess of $10.7 million (Navarro v. Florida Institute of Technology Complaint, 2022; Lopiano, 2023).
The Provisions of the Proposed Settlement
There are several conditions specified in the Proposed Settlement that protect the interests of the men’s rowing and cross-country teams by assuring those teams will be designated as varsity sports for at least the next five years with full funding, staff, and access to benefits afforded to other varsity teams. The Proposed Settlement further requires Florida Tech to cease counting online students when calculating athletic participation opportunities, a practice that was mixing full-time undergraduate student enrollment where students took between 4-7 courses per semester with an exclusive online program enrollment where students were barred from taking more than two courses during an 8-week period of time. Further, Florida Tech was barred from counting participants in their E-sport program as athletes because the activity itself did not meet the requirements to be recognized as a varsity sport under Title IX.
To ensure that Florida Tech is meeting the conditions of the Proposed Settlement, a neutral party (referred to in the settlement agreement as “the Neutral”) as agreed to by both the Plaintiffs and Florida Tech will be appointed. Compensation for work done by the designated “Neutral” will be paid by the university and tasked to do the following:
- Review Florida Tech’s current Title IX Athletics compliance plan and distribution of athletic financial assistance;
- Assess Florida Tech’s current level of compliance with Title IX’s Athletics Requirements;
- Prepare an annual report to be submitted to the Court reviewing the status of Florida Tech’s adherence to Title IX’s Athletics Requirements; and
- Provide an opportunity for the parties to comment on the draft report prepared by the “Neutral”.
It is expected that the “Neutral” will accept Florida Tech’s report regarding Title IX athletics compliance unless the “Neutral” can demonstrate through the Annual Report to the Court why Florida Tech’s plan does not put the institution on course to be compliant. The “Neutral” is accorded the opportunity to offer alternative recommendations to those of Florida Tech in the Annual Report as well as commentary.
Finally, under the Proposed Settlement, Class Counsel may seek up to $350,000 in attorney fees and costs associated with litigation.
Concluding Thoughts
As much as the Proposed Settlement addresses the players concerns regarding the demotion of the sports of men’s rowing and cross country and revives those teams to varsity status for a time period of at least five years, the Proposed Settlement is noticeably silent on reimbursing the Plaintiffs for the athletic scholarship shortfalls that were, according to the complaint and Lopiano’s (2023) expert witness report substantial. The stipulation that men athletes agreeing to the Proposed Settlement waive their right to sue or to continue to sue on issues that were or could have been brought in the amended complaint places the onus on the “Neutral” to ensure that the interests of men’s athletes are being served by Florida Tech in its adherence to Title IX Athletics Requirements.
References
Florida Tech Communications Staff. (2022, June 28). Florida Tech Realigns Athletics Offerings to Focus Resources, Increase Competitiveness. Press release. https://news.fit.edu/campus/florida-tech-realigns-athletics-offerings-to-focus-resources-increase-competitiveness/
Gleeson, S., & Florida Today Staff. (2020, May 11). Florida Tech eliminates its football program amid coronavirus pandemic. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2020/05/11/florida-tech-eliminates-football-program-amid-coronavirus/3109052001/
Lopez, J. (2022, July 8). Florida Tech students push to reinstate some varsity sports. WPTV.com. https://www.wptv.com/sports/college-sports/florida-tech-students-push-to-reinstate-some-varsity-sports
Lopiano, D. (2022, December 19). Florida Institute of Technology preliminary report on gender equity in intercollegiate athletics. Submitted in Navarro v. Florida Institute of Technology, Case 6:22-cv-01950-CEM-EJK.
Joshua Navarro et al. v. Florida Institute of Technology, Inc.; 6:22-CV-01950-CEM-EJK. Complaint. October 24, 2022. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Joshua Navarro et al. v. Florida Institute of Technology, Inc.; 6:22-CV-01950-CEM-EJK. PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND MEMORANDUM OF LAW. December 19, 2022. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Joshua Navarro et al. v. Florida Institute of Technology, Inc.; 6:22-CV-01950-CEM-EJK. Affidavit, Jamie Joss. January 17, 2023. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Joshua Navarro et al. v. Florida Institute of Technology, Inc.; 6:22-CV-01950-CEM-EJK. NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA. https://www.fit.edu/media/site-specific/wwwfitedu/about/FIT_Navarro_-Notice-of-Class-Settlement(18942599.5).pdf
Yaskovic, M. (2022, June 30). Reinstate FIT athletics. Change.org. https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-fit-athletics
