Equal Protection in High School Sports Scenario 3 What if your school spent most of its sports money on boys' teams? How should the issue be resolved fairly? Washington High School is in a big city where public schools don’t get much money for athletic facilities. In recent years, several alumni have made donations that they specified for use in buying new football equipment and remodeling the boys’ locker room. Since the remodeling of the boys’ locker room, a group of girls is angry that there have been no improvements in facilities or equipment for girls’ sports teams. The girls think that the school should not remodel the boys’ facilities if they don’t remodel the girls’, regardless of where the funding comes from. STUDENT PANELISTS' RESPONSES Click on a student's name to read his or her bio. Ben C.  Unfortunately, the current situation leaves little recourse for the women’s grievances. The money, received from private donors, has already been spent to improve the men’s facility. Thus in the absence of further donations there is little Washington High School can do to ameliorate the apparent injustice. However, the school might use this circumstance to change institutional policy, in order to prevent further acts of discrimination against women’s athletics. The school must learn to exercise considerable restraint when reviewing donations which single-out specific genders. Perhaps the school might place a moratorium on all further renovations of the men’s facility until the girl’s locker room is brought up to par. Taken as a whole, this situation provides a rare opportunity for Washington High School to reevaluate its mission. It seems that it must decide whether it exists for the promotion of just the boys, or the equal advancement of all the student body. Read the questions Ben asked in the Legal Experts Conversation and Sports Celebrities Conversation for this scenario. Annie D. Washington High School should definitely be required to distribute money evenly between both male and female athletic teams. Regardless of where the money comes from, it must be fairly distributed according to Title IX. Title IX states that money and resources are to be equivalent. This covers not only the availability of teams for female participation, but the amount of money spent on girls teams and the facilities that they have access to. So, to make everyone happy, Washington High could recruit donors for girls' athletic programs or use the budgeted football money for the girls' teams, since football is paid for through private donations. If this does not work, the school can explain to the donors about title IX, and distribute the money equally, possibly through an athletic boosters program. Washington High School could possibly lose donors, but I'm sure even the most costly athletic program is less costly than a lawsuit. Read the question Annie asked in the Legal Experts Conversation for this scenario. Shiona M. According to the Declaration of Independence all men are created equal. Title IX also prohibits sex discrimination in most school activities, including student athletic programs. To be treated equally, the girls attending Washington High School obviously believe their facilities should be remodeled as well as the boys’. What makes the boy’s locker room and football equipment more important than all other sports? The natural reaction of a girl finding out there is money being spent on the boys is to become angry. They feel boys get more attention and better treatment just because people may feel boys are better at sports than girls. The alumni would agree that since they have made donations for buying new equipment and to remodel the boy's locker room then that is what it is to be used for. Since the government is not giving school federal funds to maintain the athletic facilities and programs, there is no illegal discrimination occurring at Washington High School. If the school was receiving funds from the government, then the girls would have an argument. However, the alumni should know the school is not receiving much money to support and maintain the athletic department, they should give other programs money out of fairness. Read the question Shiona asked in the Legal Experts Conversation for this scenario. Don't forget to check out Convo Central for other students' comments about this scenario! Student Panelists | Sports Celebrities | Legal Experts Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 Conversations | Convo Central (Student Comments) Links Online Conversations | Title IX