University of Colorado Reaches Settlement on Historic Title IX Lawsuit
Some 5½ years after it had been filed, a landmark Title IX lawsuit against the University of Colorado was settled last week.
The lawsuit against the University of Colorado included claims by former student Lisa Simpson and another woman, Anne Gilmore, that they were gang-raped on December 7, 2001 at a party for football recruits.
On that night, Simpson had held a female-only drinking party at her apartment when a female tutor for the athletic department asked her if football players could stop by. After going to bed drunk, Simpson claimed to wake up and find two naked men stripping and assaulting her.
Gilmore also claimed that she was assaulted that night. No sexual assault charges were ever filed, but four Colorado football players - Marques Harris (now with the NFL's San Diego Chargers), Corey Alexander, Allen Mackey and Clyde Surrell - were charged with providing alcohol to minors at the party.
A year after the incident, Simpson sued the university under Title IX, a federal law which prohibits gender harassment and discrimination against women in education programs. Simpson specifically claimed that school officials failed to adequately address a previous sexual assault claim involving its football recruiting program. Gilmore did not file her lawsuit until December 2003 - two years after the incident.
The women's lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn in March 2005; however, the women's attorneys argued for its reversal this past May. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuit in September after finding that:
• the school failed to properly supervise high school football recruits; and
• there was enough evidence to back the woman's claims that CU actually had a policy to show recruits a "good time."
Rather than reliving the mess, the school came to a settlement last week, agreeing to pay $2.5 million to Simpson and her lawyers and $350,000 to Gilmore.
Examining the Effect of this Lawsuit
While this lawsuit may finally be over, its effect on the University of Colorado should not be glazed over. The sexual assault claims created a national stir and revealed some disturbing things about the school's football recruiting program.
The lawsuit specifically brought to light the hiring of strippers to entertain football recruits at CU parties and included allegations that some women were paid to have sex with football players and recruits.
As a result of the allegations in the lawsuit, 17 changes were made to the school's athletic program while 10 new rules were added to its recruiting practices. The negative publicity also helped lead to the eventual resignations of former Athletic Director Dick Tharp, CU President Betsy Hoffman, and Boulder campus Chancellor Richard Byyny.
The incident especially sullied the image of then Colorado Head Football Coach Gary Barnett. In addition to putting Barnett's recruiting practices under the microscope, the lawsuit spurred allegations by a former walk-on kicker, Katie Hnida, who said she was frequently sexually harassed by members of the CU football team. Hnida would later say that she was raped by a teammate in 1999.
In response to this allegation, Barnett attacked Hnida's abilities as a football player, calling her "awful" and "terrible." Here's what Barnett specifically had to say about Hnida:
"She was awful, OK. Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl, she was terrible. And there is no other way to say it. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights."
Barnett's macho and insensitive comments would get him suspended from the team in the summer of 2004. However, Barnett would not get fired until December 2005, after Colorado lost 70-3 loss to Texas in that year's Big 12 Championship Game.
Following the settlement last week, Barnett described the lawsuit in terms of "holding CU hostage" and expressed his disdain that the school and its athletic department would never get their day in court.
Simpson's lawyer, Baine Kerr, described Barnett's comments as hardly surprising, considering his history.
Simpson, who now speaks on women's rights and sexual assault awareness, expressed her satisfaction with the settlement and encouraged "the university to reach out to all of the other women who have bravely come forward."