MSU settles swimming, diving lawsuit; agrees to independent Title IX review

Eleven Michigan State swimmers and divers have reached a settlement with the university, bringing an end to a two-year legal battle that began with the student-athletes attempting to get their program reinstated.

The agreement was reached Friday, just days before the Title IX case was scheduled to head to trial in federal court.

Under the terms of the agreement, Michigan State athletics has agreed to undergo a comprehensive gender-equity review, create a gender-equity plan, and bring the department into Title IX compliance by the end of the 2026-27 school year. Michigan State has agreed to appoint an independent director to conduct the gender-equity review.

During the legal battle, the courts called for Michigan State to come up with a plan to get compliant on Title IX, but have stopped short of forcing Michigan State to reinstate women's or men's swimming and diving, programs the university decided to eliminate in October 2020. The university continues to stand firm on denying reinstatement.

"These women were treated like second-class citizens even before their team was eliminated, and this settlement will ensure that future Spartan women will be treated equally at MSU," Lori Bullock, lead lawyer for the swimmers, said in a statement. "While these women are not back in the water as Division I swimmers and divers at MSU, by standing up to a Power 5 athletics program like Michigan State, they have demonstrated that women everywhere can demand equality. They united and said, 'enough is enough.' I am humbled that I was able to stand alongside these incredible students in their fight for equality."

Michigan State spent more than $700,000 in legal fees to defend its decision to eliminate the swimming and diving programs, even appealing the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which declined to hear it. Now, in addition, as part of the settlement, Michigan State also has agreed to pay the plaintiff's attorney fees. That exact amount, plus any possible payouts directly to the 11 swimmers, isn't known.

"We are pleased to have reached a resolution in this case," said Dan Olsen, spokesman for Michigan State. "MSU remains committed to providing equal opportunities for all student-athletes.

"While the university is in compliance with Title IX, these measures will help ensure public trust in our compliance enforcement through an ongoing independent, third-party review."

Title IX, the landmark legislation that in 2022 turned 50 years old, requires, in part, for public colleges and universities to provide equal athletic opportunities for women based on the student-body breakdown. According to numbers from 2019-20, Michigan State's student body was 49.1% men and 50.9% women, but the student-athlete breakdown was 49.7% men and 50.3% women. In 2018-19, the student body was 48.8% men and 51.2% women, with the student-athlete breakdown 50.2% men and 49.8% women.

When Michigan State eliminated the swimming and diving programs, just shy of their 100th season, 11 female swimmers filed suit over Title IX concerns: Taylor Arnold, Sophia Balow, Ava Boutrous, Julia Coffman, Kylie Goit, Emma Inch, Sheridan Phalen, Madeline Reilly, Olivia Starzomski, Elise Turke and Sarah Zofchak.

"I am extremely happy with the relief that was granted today for us and future female student-athletes at MSU," Balow said in a statement. "I am very proud and extremely humbled to stand amongst such incredible, strong women. This process has been difficult, and I am disappointed that after two years of litigation, MSU continues to demonstrate its unwillingness to right its wrongs from the past."

Balow said while the court battle has come to an end, the programs' advocacy group, Battle for Spartan Swim & Dive, will continue to push for reinstatement of both programs. While the court case involved female swimmers, they, too, were pushing for the men's program to be reinstated, as well.

"Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive stands proudly behind the plaintiffs, 11 women who made the difficult and selfless decision to sue a school they had chosen to represent as student-athletes, a school that opted to spend millions in legal fees to keep them out of the pool rather than correcting past mistakes and properly adhere to federal standards," the advocacy group said in a statement Saturday.

Advocates for the program have been regular speakers at Michigan State Board of Trustees meetings since the decision first came down, and have told university officials they have secured $10 million or more in private donation commitments to keep the program afloat. They had hoped for reinstatement for this season, even independently securing scheduling slots with Big Ten programs, but the university resisted. At the December meeting, then-trustee Melanie Foster said there was no path forward for reinstatement.

Later in the month, interim president Teresa Woodruff met with swimmers and divers, with Woodruff describing the discussions as "fruitful." Student-athletes got nowhere with previous Michigan State president Samuel L. Stanley.

"We are encouraged by the open dialogue with interim president Teresa Woodruff’s office over the last month toreview data and collaborate on proposed solutions," Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive said in its statement.

When Beekman made the announcement in October 2020, he cited the athletic department's finances amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But in a January 2022 deposition, though, Beekman said discussions about the future of swimming and diving had begun as early as "late 2018, early 2019," about the same time the university was discussing closing the outdoor pool, which had begun deteriorating. University officials decided against spending $8 million on a new outdoor pool. The old pool was drained and filled with sand, and remains in that condition.

"As we looked at the budget, it became clear that it was going to be hard for us to be successful as a department with the budget we had with 25 sports," Beekman said in the deposition Jan. 28, 2022, held over Zoom. "So the conversation then evolved into, well, so how do you address that problem. And there are a lot of ways to do things, but fundamentally, you could cut various things across the board, but, of course, that then has the impact of providing less resources to everybody and giving everybody less opportunity to be successful.

"Or you could make target cuts which would obviously be very detrimental to some but would give the significantly larger percentage of other folks more of an opportunity to be successful by shoring up those assets and resources available for the larger population of students."

When announcing the program cuts, Michigan State, with an athletic budget over $100 million, agreed to honor the scholarships for any swimmers and divers who decided to finish their degree programs. Currently, 21 swimmers remain, 15 women and six men. The athletes argued that the program could've resumed this season, and they could've swam at the regulation pool at IM West. Advocates for the program also have said the university plans a regulation pool at its $154 million recreation and wellness center, set to open in late 2025 or early 2026. But university officials have said there are no current commitments for a pool in the new facility.

Dozens of college athletes programs were eliminated early in 2020, amid the financial uncertainty of COVID and, as a result, empty stadiums. Once financial outlooks improved, many schools reinstated those sports, including Iowa with its women's swimming and diving programs.

But while new athletic director Alan Haller has had internal discussions about the viability of bringing back both programs, according to his own court deposition, Michigan State has stood firm, despite the pushback from student-athletes — a fight that continues, even as the legal battle ends.

"Our settlement today, while so worthy of celebration, was bittersweet," Turk, a former MSU swimmer, said in a statement. "We came into this lawsuit with the hopes of bringing our team back and laying down a future precedent for how collegiate female athletes deserve to be treated. Even though our team will not be making a return in the near future, it's gratifying to know that Michigan State University will be evaluated and held accountable for any future mistreatment of their female athletes. I'm proud of my teammates and myself for speaking out and standing up for improved treatment of our peers, even if it meant battling the institution where we had spent four years wearing its colors and chanting its song.

"I've been a Spartan since I was a child, and I continue to bleed green. But it's because of my love for the Spartan nation that I am passionate about and proud of the upcoming change that they deserve."

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984