Nine years after it was filed, a sexual harassment lawsuit against the University of North Carolina women’s soccer coach has regained momentum as a former player challenges how harassment and the culture of college athletics could violate Title IX.
In that lawsuit, Melissa Jennings accuses Anson Dorrance, the nation’s most decorated women’s soccer coach, of maintaining a hostile environment filled with sexual harassment. The former backup goalkeeper says the abuse violated Title IX by denying her the benefits of collegiate sports.
A ruling Monday from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., has resurrected the allegations that a District Court judge first dismissed three years ago. Federal judges overwhelmingly determined that the facts seemed to support Jennings’ harassment accusations and sent the case back to District Court for a jury trial.
“This case is going to be the leading case when it comes to the relationship between the coach and a student athletes,” said Jennings’ attorney, Daniel Konicek of Geneva, Ill. “No student-athlete should have to go through that daily torment.”
Read the entire article here. An Inside High Ed account is available here. The published Fourth Circuit opinion in Jennings v. North Carolina is accessible here. A prior post about the dispute on this blog by Stephanie Farrior can be accessed here.
–Ann Bartow
