The Court's ruling in CFE's favor supplements a comprehensive settlement reached by the parties before trial to resolve several other complaints that CFE raised about MHSAA's treatment of Michigan's female high school athletes. Under the settlement and resulting Consent Decree, MHSAA is legally bound to do the following:

Publicity
MHSAA will produce for telecast the same number of MHSAA finals for girls' sports as for boys' sports, and will use its best efforts to have them available for broadcast and aired in the same manner. MHSAA will also provide or sell the same types of programs, other written materials, as well as tournament promotional ads for TV, radio or newspapers and to the same media outlets for girls as they do for boys. MHSAA will also provide comparable auxiliary (non-tournament) programs for boys and girls and use its best efforts to encourage third parties to provide equivalent auxiliary programs for boys and girls.

Golf
MHSAA will sponsor and conduct golf tournaments that consist of the same number of holes of golf for girls and boys at each level of the tournament. MHSAA will also actively encourage its member schools to schedule equal holes for girls and boys. MHSAA will distribute to all schools of which it is aware who do not provide equal holes of play an annual written notification of MHSAA's recommendation that girls and boys play the same number of holes.

Additional Tournaments for Girls
MHSAA will schedule two additional girls' tournaments, one no later than 2003-2004 and the second no later than 2004-2005. The two sports will be chosen by the MHSAA Representative Council with the primary goal of providing maximum participation opportunities for girls in all types of schools and all locales in the state. Among the many criteria considered will be the number of MHSAA member high schools sponsoring the sport on the varsity interscholastic level, current interscholastic participation levels in those schools, club sport participation levels, and responses to surveys of MHSAA members schools and their female students. The results of any survey will be made public.

Volleyball Rules
MHSAA will submit to its member schools' volleyball coaches, principals, athletic directors, and superintendents a survey offering such choices for game and match scoring as are approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations by December 2001. MHSAA will adopt the option chosen by the majority of respondents for use in the MHSAA tournament in the 2002-2003 season.

MHSAA will assign registered officials as line judges in MHSAA quarterfinal, semifinal, and final matches. MHSAA will use its best efforts to encourage tournament managers to assign registered officials as line judges in MHSAA regional and district matches.

Fast-Pitch Softball Finals
MHSAA will use its best efforts to secure first-rate fast-pitch facilities at the State finals at Bailey Park in Battle Creek or at an alternative facility of equal or better quality. It is MHSAA's current policy to conduct baseball and fast-pitch softball finals in proximity to each other. MHSAA, in selecting such a site, will treat the needs of baseball and fast-pitch softball in an equivalent fashion and ensure that all sites meet required National Federation of State High School Associations standards.

MHSAA will continue with already commenced improvements to the Bailey Park facility, committing no less than $60,000 to those improvements. MHSAA will continue to work in conjunction with local officials to obtain needed additional funds to complete all planned improvements.

Fast-Pitch Softball Facilities for Tournaments
MHSAA agrees to adopt the annually published standards for field size and facilities for fast-pitch softball of the National Federation of State High school Associations. MHSAA will encourage its member schools to comply with them to the fullest extent that available or planned facilities allow.

MHSAA will have a new, separate committee charged with the selection of sites for MHSAA baseball and fast-pitch softball tournament games. That committee will select only sites that meet those standards, so long as a site that does so is available in the MHSAA district or region.

Volleyball Facilities for Tournaments
MHSAA agrees to adopt the required standards for court size and facilities of the National Federation of State High School Associations. MHSAA will encourage its member schools to comply with them to the fullest extent that available or planned facilities allow.

The Volleyball Site Selection Committee of MHSAA will select only tournament sites that meet those standards so long as a site that does so is available in the MHSAA district or region.

Sites for Girls Basketball
MHSAA agrees to provide equivalent sites for boys and girls basketball. MHSAA will utilize the same policy by its Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament Site Selection Committees with respect to District, Regional, and Quarterfinal venues.

Subject to availability, MHSAA will conduct its girls basketball semi-finals and finals at Michigan State University's Breslin Student Event Center in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years. Thereafter, the site will be chosen by the Representative Council with consideration of the opinions of member school administrators, basketball coaches and students.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association's
Current Schedule of Interscholastic Girls and Boys Sports

To read the US District Court's decision in its entirety download
Communities for Equity vs. Michigan High School Athletic Association

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