After Atalanta

There are so many cliched sentiments to describe the $7.4 million judgment levied against the Michigan High School Athletic Association for attorney fees incurred during the 12-year fight to keep discrimination alive and well in Michigan high schools. The ones that came to my mind immediately: reaping what you sow; karma's a bitch. [Further cliches are welcome in the comments section.] More on the details of the case can be found at the Title IX blog , but the Reader's Digest version goes like this: Michigan scheduled more girls' sports in non-traditional seasons (like basketball in fall for example) than boys' which had a disproportionately discriminatory effect on the girls. There were actually a host of other gender discrimination issues brought up in the 12-year case but the scheduling issue got the most attention and created the most vitriol. MHSSA lost. They lost more than once and continued to appeal the decisions ordering them to put sports in their traditional ...

The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) lawsuit that has been going on since 1998 is finally over . The Supreme Court denied MHSAA's latest appeal thus ending the case. For those unfamiliar with the Michigan saga, Communities for Equity, a group formed by Michigan parents, sued the athletic association because of a variety of civil rights violations which resulted in girls' athletics continually being discriminated against. The biggest battle--as the media reported it--was over seasons. Six girls' sports were being played in the "wrong" season (i.e. not in accordance with collegiate seasons). This made college recruitment more difficult. MHSAA argues that this was done because of facility and coaching issues. MHSAA probably would not have had such legal troubles if they had disadvantaged students in an equitable manner; after all, not every high school student-athlete is going to be recruited. But if this really was not such a big deal, as MHSAA con...