<p>A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order that will prevent UConn from immediately eliminating its women’s rowing team as part of budget cuts in its athletic department. </p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Stephen Underhill issued the order Wednesday, ruling that the rowers were likely to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-sports-39c95cdb1a0332a6976941458c9f4faa">prevail in their lawsuit that alleges eliminating the team would violate Title IX</a>, the federal law that guarantees equal access to women in education, including athletics.</p>
<p>Underhill found that there is compelling evidence that UConn has been inflating the numbers of participants in its women’s programs to make it appear it was complying with the law.</p>
<p>“Plaintiffs have shown that it is substantially likely that UConn is not presently in compliance with Title IX’s effective-accommodation mandate, and cutting the women’s rowing team would only exacerbate that noncompliance by magnifying UConn’s disparity in athletic participation opportunities,” the judge wrote. </p>
<p>The school issued a statement saying it disagrees with the ruling and believes it is “inconsistent with longstanding guidance provided by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.” </p>
<p>“UConn used its best efforts to eliminate the fewest number of teams as possible, but there was no path forward that would permit the university to preserve the long-term viability of its athletics program in the absence of cuts,” the school said in a statement.</p>
<p>UConn said last June that it wants to reduce its $42 million athletic deficit by about $10 million a year, cutting the need for a subsidy to the athletic department by 25% over the next three years. The school decided to eliminate women’s rowing, men’s swimming and diving, men’s cross-country and men’s tennis at the end of this school year.</p>
<p>The school said it considered the civil rights implications before making that move.</p>
<p>According to the school’s annual filing with the NCAA, the rowing team has a roster of 38 rowers but had 62 participants in the program and operating expenses totaling $1,345,104 in the 2020 fiscal year. UConn rowing gave at least partial scholarships to 32 rowers at a cost of $713,417 and its coaches earned a total of $196,575, according to the report.</p>
<p>A hearing on the rowers motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Aug. 2.</p>