The Long Island University women's softball team scored a temporary victory after the university agreed to keep the sports program in Brooklyn for two more years, and the team will finally get a field of its own.
The win comes after some members of the Northeast Conference-winning team filed a federal Title 9 lawsuit accusing LIU of fraudulently misrepresenting that the softball program was to remain in Brooklyn and that a new softball complex would be completed on which the team would practice and play competitions.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Felice Duffy, says in part, “Softball has been treated less favorably than male athletics in many ways” with inferior “practice and competition facilities” and that by moving the team’s location, women “…are being confronted with choosing between their academic and their athletic careers.” Title 9 is designed to ensure gender equity in sports and education.
The female athletes committed to LIU Brooklyn because of its location; for the past four years they haven’t had a home field in Brooklyn, instead they have been traveling to Long Island to play home games.
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“[It] was an hour there and sometimes 2-3 hours back because of Long Island traffic,” said player Kristen Blanchard. “This prevented girls from studying or from going to their classes.”
On May 18, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop LIU from moving the softball team. On May 22, a judge granted it and on June 1, both sides agreed the temporary restraining order would be extended till the end of the 2025 LIU spring softball season while the civil matter continues. LIU will also complete the Brooklyn turf complex that the softball team has been practicing on so that it can be used for NCAA games.
“For four years we’ve been in Brooklyn with hopes of a new field,” said player Camryn Lyman. “It almost felt like retaliation as soon as we used our voices as women in sports they decided to move us to Post.”
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Back in May, a LIU spokesman told NBC New York that “It is in LIU’s best interest that field sports practice and compete at LIU Post’s 300-plus-acre campus and NCAA caliber facility.”
The court order commands that the softball team be given priority access to the field for practice and competitions as well as other gender equitable benefits like laundry service for practice and game gear, medical support to the team, and equitable strength and conditioning support to the team.
