Opinion ID: 194677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: remediation

Text: After applying the preliminary injunction standard, the district court ordered relief pendente lite, temporarily reinstating the women's volleyball and gymnastics teams. Brown argues that such specific relief is inappropriate because it intrudes on Brown's discretion. The point has some cogency. We are a society that cherishes academic freedom and recognizes that universities deserve great leeway in their operations. See, e.g., Wynne v. Tufts Univ. Sch. of Med., 976 F.2d 791, 795 (1st Cir. 1992), petition for cert. filed (Feb. 3, 1993); Lamphere v. Brown Univ., 875 F.2d 916, 922 (1st Cir. 1989). In addition, Title IX does not require institutions to fund any particular number or type of athletic opportunities only that they provide those opportunities in a nondiscriminatory fashion if they wish to receive federal funds. Nonetheless, the district court has broad discretionary power to take provisional steps restoring the status quo pending the conclusion of a trial. See Ricci v. Okin, 978 F.2d 764, 767 (1st Cir. 1992); Guilbert, 934 F.2d at 7 & n.3. Considering the district court's proper estimation and deft application of the preliminary injunction standard, see supra Part VI, we think that requiring Brown to maintain the women's volleyball and gymnastics teams in varsity status for the time being is a remedial choice within the district court's discretion. That is not to say, 41 however, that the same remedy will be suitable at trial's end if the Title IX charges prove out against Brown. The district court has noted, we believe appropriately, that if it ultimately finds Brown's athletic program to violate Title IX, it will initially require the University to propose a compliance plan rather than mandate the creation or deletion of particular athletic teams. Cohen, 809 F. Supp. at 1001. Although the district court has the power to order specific relief if the institution wishes to continue receiving federal funds, see Franklin, 112 S. Ct. at 1035, the many routes to Title IX compliance make specific relief most useful in situations where the institution, after a judicial determination of noncompliance, demonstrates an unwillingness or inability to exercise its discretion in a way that brings it into compliance with Title IX.