CSUF Promises Equity for Its Women Athletes : Sports: Settlement of bias lawsuit also calls for reinstating women’s volleyball and adding soccer.

Cal State Fullerton, under legal attack for its record on women’s athletics, agreed Wednesday to reinstate its women’s volleyball team, add women’s soccer and achieve equity for women athletes within 10 years.

The changes are the key elements of an out-of-court settlement reached in a sex-discrimination lawsuit filed against the university after it dropped women’s volleyball on Jan. 28 as a cost-cutting move. A central issue: Men now make up 72% of the university’s athletes, but only 45% of the student body.

“I want to emphasize that the spirit of today’s agreement is a deliberate effort on behalf of the university to achieve gender equity in athletics,” said university President Milton A. Gordon.

A lawyer for the Titan volleyball team said the agreement will reach far beyond the Fullerton campus. “This is truly a victory not only for the volleyball players, but for all women throughout the state of California that aspire to participate in intercollegiate athletics,” said attorney Kirk Boyd.

“This is the equivalent of a major breakthrough in civil rights. In the same way that it took 20 years for civil rights statutes pertaining to racial discrimination to be enforced, it has taken nearly 20 years for statutes prohibiting sex discrimination to be enforced.”

The law that bars sex discrimination at institutions receiving federal aid is referred to as Title IX and was adopted in 1972.

“Women are contributing tremendously to the tax base, and these are public monies,” Boyd said. “This is a sign that women will be given a fair share.”

The agreement was signed by principals on both sides, including Gordon and Jim Huffman, the former volleyball coach who was fired in March.

Gordon--who responded to a heckler at a basketball game in February by saying: “No, we’re not going to bring back volleyball”--said in a statement that he is “pleased that Cal State Fullerton will take its place among the nation’s leaders in moving toward equitable opportunities for our student-athletes.”

The volleyball team’s efforts made significant gains for women’s athletics at Fullerton and set a precedent that could advance women’s sports at other schools as well. But at a time of an ongoing state budget crunch, funding for all sports is threatened.

“The spirit of this agreement underscores our commitment to move into an equitable environment for our student-athletes in the years to come, no matter what financial limitations may be placed upon us,” Gordon said.

Nancy Carlin, an attorney representing the California State University Board of Trustees, said the impact of the Fullerton case on other schools might be diminished by the budget situation.

“Quite frankly, I believe other schools are looking at the possibility of eliminating athletics altogether,” she said, referring to the state college system. “In that case, this may not be an issue at all.”

One week after Fullerton dropped volleyball, the team filed a suit claiming the move violated state sex-discrimination laws.

A Superior Court commissioner granted the team’s request for a temporary restraining order against the school’s action in February, and a Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction reinstating the team in March. A permanent injunction hearing had been scheduled for June 4.

Under the agreement, Fullerton will:

* Restore the volleyball team at the funding level of 1991-92. The school also agreed to continue to sponsor volleyball as long as a student-interest survey already in use continues to rank the sport among the top four of the seven women’s sports. The agreement provides for the hiring of a coach but does not seek to resolve the status of Huffman, who has a wrongful-termination grievance pending against the university. Huffman was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

* Adopt a long-range equity plan calling for an improvement in the ratio of men athletes to women to 3 to 2 within five years. Within 10 years, the ratio is to be proportionate to that of the student body, within an allowable 5% variation.

Because women make up 55% of students at Fullerton, there is a possibility that by 2002, there might be more women athletes than men athletes at the school. Such a configuration would seem difficult to attain as long as the school sponsors football, which has large numbers of male participants and no women’s equivalent.

“What we’re going to have to do on the male side is to cap participation opportunities in all male sports and really encourage participation on the female side,” Athletic Director Bill Shumard said.

Boyd applauded the guidelines. “It is very significant that the agreement provides for a longtime restructuring of provisions and funding,” Boyd said. “This does not set forth goals or aspirations. It sets forth a timetable.”

* Add women’s soccer, thus reducing the disparity between the number of men and women athletes. The team is expected to be at a formative stage next season. Carlin said there is no provision for funding for the program next year--”no coach hiring, no equipment, no uniforms”--and that there is no provision to fund scholarships in women’s soccer when the team takes the field in 1993.

* Provide comparable facilities, coaching, playing times and equipment for men’s and women’s teams. Boyd suggested that Fullerton’s new $10-million sports complex, which includes football and baseball stadiums, could become the subject of some contention. Shumard pointed out that the complex includes women’s facilities.

* Assign a nine-member committee--perhaps the existing Athletics Council--to oversee the status of sex equity and complete an annual assessment of compliance with the settlement. The agreement calls for attorneys to negotiate complaints but provides for the court to continue to enforce the decree if necessary.

In exchange, attorneys for the volleyball team agreed not to go forward with a federal lawsuit challenging the school’s compliance with Title IX.

The plaintiffs did not waive their right to sue for damages.

Rachel Wittliff, a junior on the volleyball team who said she is “glad it’s finally over” and plans to stay at the school, was uncertain whether any players have decided to sue but said it is likely some will.

Carlin, the school’s attorney, said she expects some players to sue and that “it’s been suggested” that the former coach “will do that.”

While those directly involved in the Fullerton case were satisfied with the outcome, at least one high-ranking women’s athletics official remained skeptical.

“It’s good they reinstated the sport, but the glass is still more half-empty than full,” said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the New York-based Women’s Sports Foundation. “In 1975, institutions were given three years to come into compliance with Title IX, and now, on the 20th anniversary of the law, people are talking about an additional 10 years.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me at all. It should be something done in a year or two. Let’s get it done,” Lopiano said.

Arthur Bryant, who has handled several sex-discrimination cases for the Washington-based Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, hailed the settlement but wasn’t sure if it would have far-reaching effects.

“It’s a first step toward getting equality at that school, and because it was the first such case under California law, it sets an important precedent there,” said Bryant, who has helped get women’s teams reinstated at Temple, Washington, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and William and Mary.

Shumard, the athletic director, contended that Cal State Fullerton never ignored women’s sports.

“”Our ratios here at Cal State Fullerton are really no different than many other institutions, and in fact, better than some,” he said. “Now we can put (women’s athletics) on an even increasingly better position over the next decade. I’m sure we won’t be alone in that.”