<p>Christy</p>

Christy

<p>Bryant</p>

Bryant

PEMBROKE — The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s athletic department will develop a gender equity plan and will work toward becoming fully compliant with Title IX over the next few years.

This comes as part of a settlement reached recently with lead counsel Arthur Bryant of Oakland, California, from the Charleston, West Virginia-based firm Bailey & Glasser LLP, to avoid a class-action suit threatened after the suspension of UNCP’s women’s golf program.

UNCP’s gender equity plan will be developed no later than Dec. 31, 2021, with input from athletes from all the department’s teams, including women’s golf, according to a Bailey & Glasser press release and athletic director Dick Christy. The plan will be published on the university’s website for public viewing, and will ensure the university comes into full compliance with Title IX by the 2023-24 academic year.

The reinstatement of the women’s golf team, which was announced Dec. 11, is also part of the agreement. The team had been suspended on Sept. 9.

“We are delighted that UNCP has agreed to do the right thing: reinstate women’s golf, comply with Title IX, and achieve gender equity,” Bryant said in Bailey & Glasser’s press release. “This agreement will make sure female student-athletes at UNCP get what Title IX requires.”

“I am excited the university reinstated the golf team, looking forward to playing in the upcoming season, and thrilled UNCP is going to get into compliance with Title IX,” UNCP freshman golfer Toni Blackwell said in the release.

Both the Bailey & Glasser press release announcing the settlement and a Nov. 24 letter threatening legal action, obtained by The Robesonian, state that UNCP’s undergraduate enrollment is currently 60.1% women, while the athletic department’s women’s teams comprise only 36.3% of its athletes.

“(It is particularly striking) how well the school reacted when it learned these facts,” Bryant told The Robesonian. “It didn’t deny them, it did not fight, it realized it was not in compliance with the law, immediately reinstated the women’s golf team and committed to get into compliance with the law. Obviously it is disappointing that UNCP was not in compliance already, but the school needs to be lauded for its positive reaction.”

While the school does not have matching gender demographics between its undergraduate population and its athletic participation, Christy said that is only one aspect of Title IX compliance — known as Prong 1. He anticipates the school becoming further compliant through Prong 3 through the gender equity plan’s development.

“The plan is really a non-issue for us and it’s best practice every couple years,” Christy said. “It’s good timing coming off of COVID. That part, and being able to work with our consultant … I think that’s good, and I think that will show how healthy our Prong 3 compliance is.

“One of the challenges with Title IX is, when you’re not Prong 1 compliant … then it’s very intricate; there’s a lot of subjective reviews that go on for Prong 3 compliance. That’s where having a gender equity review from an outside party can confirm what we feel very confident in, that we have a very good experience.”

Prong 3 includes factors like expenditures per student athlete, facilities, and makes sure an “equitable” investment is made in men’s and women’s sports, Christy said.

As UNCP works to ensure compliance moving forward, Bryant and his team are pleased with the outcome of the agreement.

“We achieved all of our goals in this potential litigation,” Bryant told The Robesonian. “And I have to compliment UNCP for doing what it should be doing. When we contacted UNCP we had three goals: to get the women’s golf team reinstated, to get the school into compliance with Title IX and to have UNCP pay our client’s costs and attorneys fees. The school has agreed to do all three things, so we are very pleased.”

Bryant has served as lead counsel on numerous Title IX cases over the last three decades, including the first such case against a university that went to trial. He was also the lead counsel in recent threatened legal action against East Carolina University, resulting in the reinstatement of women’s tennis and women’s swimming and diving teams that had been cut last May.

Christy to serve as interim women’s golf coach

As the reinstated women’s golf team prepares for spring competition, Christy will serve as interim head coach.

David Synan, who had served as coach from 2005 until the program’s suspension in September, did not return.

“While we conduct the search, I’ll be the interim head coach,” Christy said. “Just like all of our positions with a national search, it’s going to be open until filled, but we’re being as aggressive as we can with it. We got it posted as soon as we came out of the new year; we’re receiving candidates now. I want the girls to be involved in the process, and I’ve told them that. Some of it will depend on the quality of the candidate, for how quickly they move forward.”

The women’s golf team begins practice Wednesday and plans to compete in four events, starting Feb. 21, before NCAA regionals later in the spring.

During his time as an administrator at North Carolina State, Christy briefly served as interim men’s golf coach, and was also the athletic department’s supervisor over the men’s and women’s golf program for “six or seven years,” he said. He also served as chair of the ACC men’s golf committee.

Christy was a four-year letterman as a collegiate golfer at Wingate from 1997-2001.

“I wouldn’t be in a position to be an interim coach on any other sport,” Christy said. “I’ve been fortunate golf has done a lot for me, and our girls are excited about golf, so it’s been fun to see their enthusiasm and I’ll try to do what I can to help them.”

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.