Cohen v. Brown University

In an important victory for female student athletes, a federal appeals court today unanimously affirmed approval of a settlement agreement between Brown University and a class of women student-athletes at Brown which resolved a class-action court challenge to Brown’s decision in June 2020 to cut women’s teams from its varsity athletics program.  The court action, filed last June by cooperating attorneys from Public Justice and the ACLU of Rhode Island and two private law firms, alleged that the cuts violated a 1998 consent agreement that the University entered to comply with Title IX, the federal law that guarantees equal access to athletic programs for female athletes.

A federal court gave final approval to a settlement agreement between Brown University and athletes resolving the class-action legal challenge to the school's decision to cut women’s teams from its varsity athletics program.

A proposed settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Brown University. The suit was filed following cuts to the varsity athletics program which undermined gender equality at the school.

In response to our release of documents showing Brown University's disturbing plans to undermine a long-standing Title IX consent agreement, the University has claimed that it has never wavered from its commitment to the agreement. Nice try. We'll let the documents speak for themselves.

A series of internal emails and documents recently made public reveal an intentional plan by Brown University officials to undermine and ultimately destroy a long-standing consent decree to comply with federal Title IX laws that ensure equal opportunity for female athletes at the college.