Eric Chalenor Brady Flatten Chad Lorenson and Mike Schuster v. University of North Dakota

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

In this case we consider whether Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 86 Stat. 373-376, as amended, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1688, prohibits a public university from eliminating a men’s athletic team for the purpose of reducing the inequality of athletic participation between its male and female students. In 1998, the University of North Dakota, citing gender-equity and budgetary issues, canceled its men’s wrestling program. Only men’s programs were considered for cuts. Plaintiffs, participants in the wrestling program or recruits to the program, brought…