2 January 2022

By Göran R Buckhorn

On Wednesday last week, University of Connecticut (UConn) reached a settlement with 12 members of the women’s rowing team who had filed a Title IX lawsuit when the university had eliminated the programme due to budget cuts in the athletic department. HTBS wrote about the lawsuit last July.

UConn has agreed to keep the rowing team through at least the end of the 2026 spring season. The school has also agreed to a number of upgrades, including installing two indoor rowing tanks, renovating the boathouse on Coventry Lake and maintaining 20 scholarships (which is up from 14).

“We were hoping for this outcome. It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it. The future of UConn rowing has never been better. To see where it goes, it’s really, really exciting,” said Maggie Mlynek, one of the plaintiffs who is a former captain of the team.

UConn has also agreed to an audit of its entire sports programme, which will assess Title IX compliance for all UConn women’s sports.