Cal Women's Field Hockey Players Threaten Lawsuit After University Gives Field To Football Team
BERKELEY (KCBS)— Three members of the women's field hockey team at Cal Berkeley are threatening to sue the university because it took away their field, reconstructed it and decided to give the new one to the school's football team.
Cal has torn down Maxwell Family Field, just north of Memorial Stadium, to build a new garage with a new field on top. That's forcing the women's field hockey team to practice at Stanford, of all places, and play all its games on the road.
Some argue the school appears to be in violation of federal civil rights law, since the new field was given to the football team for practice.
Female Cal Hockey Team Players Threaten Lawsuit After University Gives Field Away
Oakland attorney Pamela Price, a civil rights law pioneer who argued the first case brought under the Title IX statute said UC can't discriminate against the women like that.
"It's obviously a violation of Title IX from a legal perspective. That's the reason why the law was enacted and implemented was to ensure that women have equal access in educational facilities to all activities," Price said.
The three players have hired a San Francisco Title IX lawyer to negotiate a solution, and barring that, file a complaint. In a statement, the Cal athletic department has said it is working with the field hockey team to find a mutually agreeable solution to address a complicated and difficult situation.
