This is where Heather Mercer comes in. An all state kicker in high school, tried to walk on the Duke football team. She made the roster as a practice squad player and never played a game. After making the game winning field go in the Duke spring game, she still did not see action the next year. During that year mercer states that the coach use offensive comments and was discriminating. Mercer eventually sued, arguing that the decision to cut her from the team was discriminatory because other less qualified players were still on the team. This is where the contact sport exception comes in. It is an argument that contact sports such as football should not be taken into account in regard to a school's compliance with title IX.(Spengler, pg 190) …show more content…
Board of Trustees of Univ. of ILL.) In 1993, the University of Illinois had to respond to a large athletic budget deficit. In 93, the school cut Men’s swimming and fencing, and Men’s and Women’s diving. In 1992 there were about 76% male athletes and 23% were women. In this case the court disagreed with the male athletes, stating that the decision to cut the men’s teams was specifically an effort to comply with the law and so the male athletes claims were dismissed.( Spengler, pg. 192) Male athletes keep suing because they are frustrated with their sports being cut. Unfortunately, the male athletes do not really have any chance. Every school is cutting male team to help comply with Title IX. University of ILLInois had a 76% to a 23% of male to women athletes, that’s crazy. In 2002, Miami Univ. Wrestling club v. Miami University, was another court case dealing with male athletes trying get their teams back. Once again the court disagreed with the plaintiffs, finding that gender equity laws provide only to the underrepresented sex with rights.According to the Washington Post, Tennis, Gymnastics, swimming, and Wrestling have been hit particularly