National Roundup

Oregon
Female athletes sue university alleging Title IX violations by the school
Thirty-two female athletes filed a lawsuit against the University of Oregon on Friday that alleges the school is violating Title IX.

The plaintiffs, who are all either on the varsity beach volleyball team or the club rowing team, are accusing the school of “depriving women of equal treatment and benefits, equal athletic aid, and equal opportunities to participate in varsity intercollegiate athletics.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, seeks correction of the alleged violations and unspecified damages.

The lead counsel for the women is Arthur H. Bryant of Bailey & Glasser, who is known for legal efforts to enforce Title IX, the federal law that prohibits gender inequality by educational institutions receiving federal funds.

The beach volleyball players say they do not have facilities for practicing or competing. Instead, the team must practice and compete at a public park with inadequate facilities.

“For example, the public park lacks any stands for spectators, has bathrooms with no doors on the stalls, and is frequently littered with feces, drug paraphernalia, and other discarded items,” the players allege in the lawsuit. “No men’s team faces anything remotely similar.”

Oregon released a statement that said an on-campus facility for beach volleyball is currently in the development stage. It also said Oregon is “committed to providing a quality, positive experience for all our student-athletes.”

Many of Oregon’s men’s teams, including the fifth-ranked Ducks football team, have state-of-the-art facilities, take chartered flights to games, eat catered food and have other amenities. The Ducks were playing Friday night in the Pac-12 championship game against Washington in Las Vegas.

Of the 20 varsity sports at Oregon, only beach volleyball does not provide scholarships, although NCAA rules allow the school to give the equivalent of six full athletic scholarships to the team. Players say they wear hand-me-down uniforms and are not provided with any name, image and likeness support.

“Based on the way the beach volleyball team has been treated, female athletes at Oregon do not need much food or water, good or clean clothes or uniforms, scholarships, medical treatment or mental health services, their own facilities, a locker room, proper transportation, or other basic necessities. Male athletes are treated incredibly better in almost every respect,” team captain and lead plaintiff Ashley Schroeder said in a statement.

Schroeder said the team could not practice this week because someone had died at the park.

In its statement, Oregon said it provides “all student-athletes, including our female athletes, with academic support, tutoring, student-athlete development, medical care, mental health support, meals and snacks, and nutrition and sports training.”

The school also said it has previously committed to increasing scholarships.

“The university believes it complies with Title IX. UO has not yet been served a copy of the complaint, and therefore we are unable to comment on any further specifics,” the university’s statement said.

Beach volleyball has been recognized by the NCAA since 2010 and Oregon’s program was founded in 2014. The first Division I championship was held in 2016.

The rowers say the university fails to provide equal opportunities for athletic participation by not having a varsity women’s rowing team.

The lawsuit, which sprang from an investigation published in July by The Oregonian newspaper, cites Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act statistics which show that 49% of the student-athletes at Oregon are women, but only 25% of athletics dollars and 15% of its recruiting dollars are spent on them.

NCAA President Charlie Baker has previously addressed possible inequities in NIL deals, saying he was concerned about potential Title IX implications because NIL opportunities seem to be disproportionately going to male athletes.

The NCAA lifted its ban on college athletes being able to earn money for sponsorship deals and endorsements in 2020.


Virginia
Judge drops felony charges against ex-elections official
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge has dismissed felony charges against a former county elections official accused of misconduct in the 2020 election, a decision made after state prosecutors said a key witness changed his story.

At the prosecutors’ request, the judge on Friday dismissed a felony charge of corrupt conduct and one for making a false statement, both of which had been levied against former Prince William County Registrar Michele White. She still faces trial next month on a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

Very little has been publicly revealed about exactly what prosecutors believe White did wrong. Court records merely indicate that the case revolves around 2020 election returns, including the presidential race.

Prince William election officials have previously said that White’s successor reported “discrepancies” in results to state officials, but that those discrepancies would not have affected the outcome of any race.

The case was brought by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares last year. Shortly after his office obtained the indictment against White, it launched an election integrity unit. The move prompted critics to accuse Miyares of pandering to supporters of former President Donald Trump, who falsely blamed his defeat on election fraud.

In White’s case, Assistant Attorney General James Herring filed a motion ahead of Friday’s hearing in which he alleged that an elections worker “conveniently and quite surprisingly provided a different version of events” than the witness had previously recounted.

“As a consequence, the Commonwealth is confronted with significant inconsistent statements,” Herring wrote.

White’s lawyer, Zachary Stafford, said he interviewed the same witness and found nothing inconsistent in his statements. The election worker, “rather filled in a hole that the initial investigation did not address” about who asked him to make changes in the state voter registration system, Stafford said in a statement. The system is being replaced after an audit questioned its reliability and functionality.

Stafford said the witness has reported that White didn’t ask him to make the changes now under scrutiny and that it was “a poor choice of words” for prosecutors to refer to the witness’ updated testimony as “convenient.”

Attorney General Miyares’ office declined to comment beyond the court filing, citing the ongoing misdemeanor case.