(Editor’s Note: The following Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Canadá article was written by sports law professors Courtney L. Flowers, Ph.D. and Dwalah Fisher, Ed.D., of Texas southern University, for sports Litigation Alert about how the university of Louisiana-Lafayette’ softball team accused the university of civil rights violations. A subscription to the Alert includes access the largest sports law-specific archive of case summaries and articles in the world.)
On Oct. 8, 2017, Michael Lotief, then the head softball coach was placed on administrative leave from the university of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL). Lotief reported the suspension was due to retaliation for his gender equality advocation for the softball team. Lotief, who coached the Ragin’ Cajuns for 14 years, regularly complained about gender equity issues to the university. Contrarily, the university cited “subjecting student-athletes and coworkers to violent, vulgar language and verbal and physical assault” as motives for the termination (Askelson, 2017 & KATC News, 2018). soon after Lotief was terminated from the university.
On Nov. 20, 2017, UL announced the hiring of Gerry Glasco as a replacement for Lotief. According to the allegations of the softball players, Glasco created a hostile environment which included racial, weight, and medical discrimination. In addition, Glasco along with the then team manager Shelly Landry, were also accused of showing favoritism towards players based on sexual orientation.
On may 1, 2018, nine UL softball players filed civil rights complaints alleging gender discrimination and harassment against the institution. After the filing of the softball players, Lotief field a lawsuit against the University, UL president Joseph Savoie, Jessica Clarke Leger, the deputy director of Athletics/SWA, and the director of Athletics, Bryan Maggard in 19th Judicial district Court in Baton Rouge.
In the petition, Lotief alleges, “Title IX retaliation, defamation, discrimination because of his health disabilities, the wrongful conversion of property and breach of contract” (KATC News, 2018).
Allegations of the Softball players
The softball players filed a claim with the department of education citing Title IX violations by UL. Specifically, their reports cited harassment of university officials and softball players. Further, the claimants, Aleah Craighton, Kimber Cortemelia, Alyssa Denham, Miranda Grotenhuis, Sarah Koeppen, Chelsea Lotief, Teryn Pritchett, Dion Sanders, and Shae Schreckengost, Camiseta River Plate cited allegations of lack of access to medical staff and treatment, omission of the university to maintain the softball field, being locked out of the softball facility, improper conduct of university officials and softball teammates, and discrimination based on weight and medical injuries by the softball coaching staff (Craighton, 2018; Cortemelia, 2018; Denham, 2018; Foote, 2018; Grotenhuis, 2018; Koeppen, 2018; Lotief, 2018; Pritchett, 2018; Sanders, 2018; and Schreckengost, 2018).
A key component of the nine civil rights claims was gender equity. Similarly, they argue the institution omitted maintaining the quality of the softball facilities in comparison to the football facilities per Title IX of the educational Amendment of 1972.
Title IX of the education Amendments Act of 1972
Title IX of the education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law that states: “No person in the united states shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” As a component of the educational system, the UL athletic department is required to comply with Title IX. Further, the department of education states, “The regulation (34 C.F.R. part 106) implementing Title IX contains specific provisions relating to athletic opportunities. It also permits individual institutions considerable flexibility in achieving compliance with the law.” Although Title IX does not speak directly to the maintenance of softball facilities it does require that all UL athletic facilities should Camiseta Manchester United be equivalent in quality.
Aligned with the claims of the softball players, Lotief cited in his lawsuit that he regularly maintained the softball fields due to neglect of the university. However, his maintenance of the UL fields does not relieve the institution of its responsibility to comply with Title IX and provide equitable fields for all UL student-athletes.
Allegations of discrimination and harassment
In addition, the claimants also cite allegations of medical discrimination by softball coaches. For example, claimant Chelsea Lotief reported she was on medical leave from the team “due to severe stress” attributed to the discrimination she experienced while participating on the softball team (Lotief, 2018). In addition, she cited that against the requestnullnull
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