PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday approved a settlement between Brown University and student-athletes who had challenged the Ivy League school’s decision to drop several women’s varsity sports.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. signed off on the agreement, ending more than two decades of legal battles centering on gender discrimination in collegiate athletics.
The settlement originally announced in September restores the women’s equestrian and women’s fencing teams to varsity status and calls for an end to a 1998 legal agreement ensuring gender equity in varsity sports at Brown on Aug. 31, 2024.
It stemmed from a legal challenge in June to the Providence, Rhode Island school’s decision to reduce several women’s varsity sports teams to club status.