The women’s crew team at Baylor University filed suit against the university, alleging Title IX violations because the women’s team is not considered a varsity sport.

The women’s complaints cited a lack of scholarships, an unpaid coach, no university-provided uniforms and an inadequate amount of oars and boats.

The athletes’ attorneys, Samuel J. Schiller and Ray Yasser, said in the legal petition the seven members who filed the suit were underrepresented at the university, according to the Associated Press.

“Female students have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in Baylor University’s intercollegiate athletic programs,” the lawyers said in the petition filed in U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas.

Baylor University’s Director of Media Relations Lori Scott Fogleman said there have been no recent developments on the suit since the university issued statements two weeks ago, but normal legal procedure will most likely follow the filing.

“There’s no telling how many steps, how many weeks, how many years there will be to the lawsuit,” Fogleman said.

Ian McCaw, the university’s director of athletics, said in a statement the lawsuit was filed in the middle of the university’s development of a five-year strategic plan detailing the university’s compliance with Title IX, slated for completion this summer, along with a student athletic interest survey.

McCaw said the plan will include a Gender Equity Plan listing the university’s commitment to Title IX.

“[The results of the survey] along with other pertinent information will serve as a foundation for the Gender Equity Plan and related strategies,” McCaw said. “It is premature to speculate regarding the addition of varsity programming until such time as this plan has been fully developed and approved.”

Title IX states that female students deserve the same opportunities as male students in financial assistance, scholarships and other benefits, and was passed into federal law in 1972.

University of Wisconsin’s Interim Women’s Crew Coach Susan Ela said UW’s team became varsity in 1974, when the women’s athletic department was started.

Ela also said the team started offering 2.5 scholarships in 1995 and added gradually to those until 2000, when the team switched to the maximum amount of scholarships offered within National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) guidelines.

Peg Davey, academic staff representative on the Athletic Board and chair for the Equity, Diversity and Student Welfare Committee, said a lawsuit involving Title IX was filed against UW in 1989 that triggered an intensive investigation by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

“The suit was filed by a community member from this area who was concerned about support and resources for female athletes (at UW),” Davey said. “Then there were years of the [athletic] department trying in various ways to become compliant with Title IX.”

In order to become Title IX-compliant, UW implemented roster management, which increased numbers on rosters of women’s teams and limited the numbers of men on team rosters.

Davey said OCR guidelines state that opportunities offered gender-wise should mirror the campus population, and at UW, 52 percent of the entire student body is comprised of women.

UW officials also added women’s teams in order to become Title IX compliant, along with several other steps to increase resources and the amount of women involved in UW sports.

In November of 2004, UW sports for men and women were within a percentage point of the same opportunities on campus, and OCR notified UW of compliance, Davey said.

But she also said the addition of women’s teams and facilities was a gradual process, and improvements were not made solely because of the lawsuit.

“The division has been committed to having equal opportunities for women for a long time,” Davey said.

Ela said the suit and investigation that followed dramatically changed athletic operations at UW.

“You know the old saying, ‘Build it and they will come’; I think a lot of us felt that way about providing opportunities for women,” Ela said. “And it wasn’t until those suits were filed that really the gender equity rule really got any teeth to it, and it’s resulted in a lot of benefits for women athletes and sports.”