Former athletes at Hawaiʻi's largest public school have won a settlement that attorneys say will ensure all girls get the same athletic benefits as their male peers.
Ashley Badis and Tatiana Troup were students and water polo athletes at James Campbell High School when they alleged that stand-alone locker rooms at practice were not provided. After raising concerns about disparate treatment, the athletes sued the Hawaiʻi Department of Education and the Oʻahu Interscholastic Association in 2018.
Part of the settlement reached last week requires the education department and the OIA to hire an independent evaluator to ensure that girls at Campbell receive the same sports offerings and athletic benefits as the boys. This includes oversight of transportation and the number of opportunities offered to females pursuing sports.
Although the locker rooms were a primary issue that highlighted the disparities, it wasn't the only problem, according to Wookie Kim, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i. Kim filed the 2018 lawsuit for the female athletes.
"It's not just practice facilities, but it's also competition facilities. Who gets to play at Aloha Stadium, and who gets to play at the really nice parks?" Kim explained.
The settlement also includes a seven-year compliance plan for monitoring and evaluating the gender equality of female athletes at Campbell. The plan requires regular site visits by an independent evaluator, publicly available reports and federal court oversight to make sure that any inequities are addressed.
The lead plaintiff, Badis, won a Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award at the ESPYs earlier this year for her role in the case.
"I feel a sense of accomplishment and relief knowing that we made it this far, and we're able to finally settle after almost six years," Badis told HPR.
"I think being one of the people to make an actual change and create better experiences for the current and future female athletes is motivating to me," she said.
Badis said the critical part of the settlement is that students, parents, teachers, coaches and administrators will be educated on Title IX, a federal law to protect people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or other activities that receive federal assistance.
Badis noted that during her time at Campbell, she didn't know what Title IX was, although it was signed into law in 1972.
She said the problems faced by the female water polo team were the same as other female athletes at the school. Issues ranged from girls having to alternate their schedules to accommodate the boys' practices, to changing clothes at a nearby Burger King, according to the lawsuit.
Officials from the state Department of the Attorney General were unable to comment or provide any additional information because of "further procedural issues that have to be addressed with the court," they said in a written statement.
The settlement additionally requires the creation of a hotline and an online complaint process for students, parents and school staff to report violations, and requires protections for students from being retaliated against when raising concerns about gender equity in Campbell's sports offerings.
Badis said she would tell future female athletes that their voices and experiences are important.
"It's really helpful to find the right people to talk to about these things. But if they're going through something like that, it's important to speak up because if you don't speak up, then nothing will change. So sometimes you need to be brave and be that catalyst for change," she told HPR.
