After threat of Title IX lawsuit, St. Thomas agrees to reinstate women's tennis team

The University of St. Thomas will not eliminate its women's tennis team after all, agreeing to reinstate it after student-athletes threatened the private college with a Title IX lawsuit.

After evaluating its athletic department's resources, St. Thomas announced in May it would eliminate both its men's and women's tennis teams.

The move would have reduced the school's varsity sports offerings to 20 programs, bringing it in line with other schools in the Division I Summit League, which St. Thomas is set to join this summer.

Eleven members of the women's tennis team fought that decision, retaining lawyers who threatened the university with a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit.

Attorney Arthur Bryant, from the firm Bailey and Glasser in Oakland, Calif., said St. Thomas "blatantly violated" Title IX, the federal law requiring colleges to provide equal opportunities to men and women. He cited 2018-19 data showing that women made up about 47% of St. Thomas' undergraduate population but only 38% of their student athletes. Cutting the women's tennis team would have meant even fewer athletic participation opportunities for female students, he said.

"Title IX requires schools to provide equal opportunities, financial aid and treatment. Now, thanks to these young women, St. Thomas will," Bryant said.

Under the settlement announced Thursday, St. Thomas agreed to continue the women's tennis team for at least the next four to five years, until all current team members have used up their intercollegiate athletics eligibility. The men's team will not be reinstated.

St. Thomas also agreed to conduct a gender equity review and develop a plan by March 15, 2022 to bring its athletic department into full Title IX compliance. And the school will pay the 11 players' attorneys fees, which totaled $64,000.

In a statement Thursday, St. Thomas leaders asserted the school was and will remain compliant with Title IX. But because "fighting a Title IX lawsuit would be extremely costly and time-consuming," the university opted to invest its resources in the women's tennis team instead, the statement said.

"Therefore, while the reasons for eliminating the programs remain sound, St. Thomas agreed to reinstate the women's team," the statement said.

"The University will be dedicated to having the women's tennis team thrive."

Olivia Paradise, an incoming senior on the women's tennis team, said she and her teammates were relieved by the settlement and are excited for the seasons to come.

"It's a nice, satisfying, rewarding end to this whole situation," Paradise said. "We had to fight a little bit harder for us to be able to compete than every other team."