Class Action Hall of Fame, Class of 2022: Title IX Champions for Equality in Women's Sports

Amy Cohen, named plaintiff in Cohen v. Brown University.

Today, Amy Cohen, Megan Hull, Lisa Stern Kaplowitz, Eileen Rocchio, and Jennifer Todd are inducted into the Impact Fund Class Action Hall of Fame, and for good reason…

In the fall of 1988 I entered Brown University as a wide-eyed, optimistic freshman. I’d trained year round 5 nights a week for 10 years leading up to college. In 1990, as a sophomore, that work paid off – I was part of the first Brown Gymnastics Team ever to win an Ivy League Team Championship. Gymnastics was a huge part of my life at Brown. At no point was I the best gymnast at Brown but I was good enough to compete on every event in every meet.

The inductees were part of the first Brown Gymnastics Team ever to win an Ivy League Team Championship

Then, in the spring of my junior year, shortly after our season ended and I was chosen to be a co-captain for my senior year, I was told that Brown would eliminate the gymnastics team along with 3 other teams. The athletic director explained that he was asked to cut the athletic budget by 5%. We begged for another solution; we suggested he ask all coaches to trim 5% from their budgets to spare these 4 teams. He told us in no uncertain terms that he had made the decision and that his decision was final.  He did let us know that if we could raise our own funds we could compete as a club varsity sport.  

Immediately we set out to fundraise.  We received support from gymnasts and coaches at other universities and from our families but little support, financially and otherwise, from the students, faculty or administration at Brown. A coach from another university sent us information about Title IX, the federal statute passed in 1972, which prohibits gender based discrimination at all institutions that receive federal funding.  We read the information and learned that Brown, like most universities around the country, was not in compliance. 

In spite of their success, the athletic director even muttered, “I thought I got rid of you.”

Using the information, the seniors on the team drafted a complaint for the Office of Civil Rights. Before they graduated they passed the complaint on to me as the incoming captain. I spent my summer looking for ways to raise money and figuring out what to do with the complaint. I contacted Arthur Bryant (now a partner with Bailey & Glasser, then with Public Justice) an expert on Title IX and women’s sports. He explained that although schools across the country were in blatant violation of the law, the Office of Civil Rights had never taken away a school’s federal funding for failure to comply with Title IX. He suggested we threaten a lawsuit.  

By the fall of 1991, our team had raised the minimum amount needed to compete as a club varsity team for the new season. It was clear, however, that fundraising was not a viable option for the future. I arrived on campus excited for the athletic director to congratulate us for our hard work and for saving the team for one more year.  Instead, he locked us out of our locker room and informed us that we could not see the athletic trainers, use the varsity weight room or hold home meets on weekends. At one point he even muttered, “I thought I got rid of you.”

Feeling totally deflated and not seeing any other option, we told Arthur Bryant that we would like his help to bring a lawsuit against the university. He felt confident that if we announced our intentions, the university, knowing it was in clear violation of Title IX, would reverse its decision and return our team to full varsity status. 

The champions accept their induction

Arthur put together a team of local lawyers led by Lynette Labinger. They helped us hold a press conference to which Brown responded by holding its own press conference, saying it was a leader in women's sports and they’d see us in court. I became the named plaintiff in the case, and so began a 7 year process in which judges at every level agreed with us that Brown was in violation of Title IX. Along the way there were many victories: a preliminary injunction, an appeal, a trial, another appeal and a final appeal to the US Supreme Court. With each decision in our favor we hoped Brown had learned its lesson and would embrace the idea that women and men not only deserve – but also by federal mandate are required to be provided – equal opportunities in all areas of the university. We were, and still are, surprised at the continued resistance, backlash and walls that have been put up around this idea of equality.

I graduated before the case actually made it to court.  As the case worked its way through the legal system, my teammates and I learned more and more about the history of women and sports, Title IX, the promises that had been made yet not fulfilled and the injustices that exist(ed) everywhere. We realized that this case was about much more than just getting our gymnastics team back. We became Title IX warriors.  I have spoken at middle schools, high schools, camps, colleges and NCAA conferences. I have received many honors, which I have accepted not because I felt I was worthy, but because they have helped continue to bring attention to the inequalities and injustices in sports across our country. 

In June of this year, Title IX turns 50.  Over the past 50 years, progress has been made towards equality and equity in sports but, I am sad to say, we still have a long way to go. I hope that in my lifetime I will see true equity and equality.