MyHorse.com reported a few months ago of a lawsuit filed against Delaware State University when it cut its equestrian team. The university temporarily re-instated the team for the 2010 school year but planned to cut it in the long run. To meet Title IX requirements, which requires sports for men and women in proportion to the school’s population, DSU said it would add a varsity cheerleading team.
According to a report in delawareonline.com, last week, a federal judge in Connecticut noted, “Cheerleading is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.” Another judge granted the suit “class action” status. The two rulings mean that the DSU equestrian team could be around for the foreseeable future. The Dover school is the only one in its conference — and the only historically black institution in the country — with a Division I equestrian team.
