The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear a case determining if employees of a federally funded school may sue for sex discrimination under Title IX, something students at those schools may already do under federal law.The high court granted review of Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia in its orders list, adding the case to its oral argument schedule for its next term. The case stems from a pair of sex discrimination claims brought by a women’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech, MaChelle Joseph, and an Augusta University art professor, Thomas Crowther, under Title IX, which were consolidated at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.Title IX, a 1972 landmark anti-discrimination law, ensures there is no sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding, with its most visible results over the past 54 years being the expansion of women’s collegiate sports.
Joseph claimed that the women’s basketball program was not allocated the same resources as the men’s program and that she was fired after years of voicing those concerns. Crowther was fired after an investigation into an allegation of sexual harassment filed against him by a student, but he claims the school treated him differently throughout the investigation because he is a man and alleged the university declined to give him a hearing to plead his case. The federal appeals court dismissed both cases, finding “that Title IX does not provide an implied right of action for sex discrimination in employment.”
