{"id":460955,"date":"2021-01-31T16:45:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T23:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=460955"},"modified":"2021-01-31T16:45:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T23:45:12","slug":"even-in-really-amazing-victory-dartmouth-swimming-sees-work-still-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/even-in-really-amazing-victory-dartmouth-swimming-sees-work-still-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Even in \u2018Really Amazing\u2019 Victory, Dartmouth Swimming Sees Work Still to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maggie Deppe-Walker<\/strong> had been tipped off that news about Dartmouth swimming\u2019s fate was coming on Friday.<\/p>\n

As one of the parties to litigation against the school alleging Title IX violations, the senior captain of the women\u2019s swim team knew Friday could be the day that the robust effort to get the program reinstated had waited for<\/a>. What she didn\u2019t know, until she opened the email from athletic director Harry Sheehy<\/strong> that morning, was that not just the teams bringing suit \u2013 women\u2019s golf and women\u2019s swimming \u2013 but the other three sports eliminated in July will return through at least the 2024-25 academic year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just thinking it would be the women\u2019s teams and we would have to continue to fight to get the men\u2019s teams reinstated as well,\u201d Deppe-Walker told Swimming World<\/em> Friday. \u201cThat did come as a surprise to me. \u2026 It was a huge, huge relief. I know the other women\u2019s captain and I, we were talking last night and were kind of really stressed and anxious about if we were going to be reinstated and not the men\u2019s team, how does that all work, how can we mobilize to get them reinstated as well. It was a really, really nice surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Maggie Deppe-Walker<\/p><\/div>\n

The victory by Dartmouth swimming is comprehensive, though not final. In a settlement agreement<\/a>, Dartmouth admitted its decision to cut five programs (men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming, men\u2019s and women\u2019s golf, men\u2019s lightweight rowing) would not pass muster in court. A university statement conceded<\/a> that, \u201celements of the data Athletics used to confirm continued Title IX compliance may not have been complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas the threat of litigation has led to incomplete victories elsewhere \u2013 such as William & Mary\u2019s original reinstatement of women\u2019s, but not men\u2019s, swimming<\/a> before men’s swimming was later reconstituted<\/a> \u2013 Dartmouth was spared such complications. (Dartmouth\u2019s suit is one of several backed by Champion Women<\/a>, an organization set up by Olympic swimmer and women\u2019s rights activist Nancy Hogshead-Makar.<\/strong>) It allowed a moment of celebration for a community<\/a> that has marshalled a nationwide and dynamic effort to state its case for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still a little bit in shock,\u201d Deppe-Walker said. \u201cIt was really, really gratifying, exciting, just all happy emotions. It really relieving to have your hard work pay off. It was just really amazing. Our whole team was going crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it just feels like a huge step in the right direction and a huge win, not only for Dartmouth and the students and the current swimmers, but for us as a swimming community as well,\u201d said Priscilla Zee,<\/strong> a team captain in 2002 when the Dartmouth swim team previously fended off an attempt by the school to cut it. \u201cIt\u2019s super exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The swimmers won concessions that the teams will be in place through at least 2024-25. In that time, Dartmouth will conduct three additional reviews: A gender-equity survey of varsity athletics, overseen by the law firm of Holland & Knight; an NCAA compliance review conducted by the Ivy League; and \u201ca process-and-control review \u2026 to examine administrative systems to make certain appropriate business practices are being followed and effective governance structures are in place,\u201d performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Those policies afford athletes a voice in future changes, something lamentably absent this time.<\/p>\n

The reinstatement could be too late for the current athletes: A number of Dartmouth swimmers and the entire coaching staff have looked elsewhere to continue their careers, with the summer cuts taking effect immediately. Deppe-Walker said that the conversation hasn\u2019t yet been broached as to whether athletes on cut teams could redeem the 2020-21 year of eligibility, given that the Ivy League suspended fall and winter sports (importantly, though, that suspended season wasn\u2019t set to involve Dartmouth swimming at the time of cancellation).<\/p>\n

But that was never the point, Deppe-Walker said. For her and the other student-athletes on the litigation \u2013 Christina Cianciolo, Siera Daly, Alie Hunter, Leah Johnson, Susannah Laster, Mia Leko, Isabella Lichen, Summer Martin, Sarah Minnigh, Bridget Parker, Ashley Post, Kaia Reznicek, Megan Tao, Penelope Tir, Zoe Wortzman, Connie Zhang<\/strong> and Eleanor Zwart<\/strong>, per the Bailey Glasser LLP release<\/a> \u2013 this was future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the whole battle with this has been for future student-athletes at Dartmouth,\u201d Deppe-Walker said. \u201cI knew I wasn\u2019t going to be getting my last season in my senior year, but I still wanted to fight to make sure students\u2019 voices were actually heard, especially on really important things like gender equality and diversity. I want to make sure our voices, the voices of people that are affected by these decisions, are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

That future sets up the bounds of what\u2019s next for Save Dartmouth Swim Dive. Zee took Friday to relish the victory. After leading the successful survival drive in 2002, resolved in a matter of weeks, she marveled at the current group of \u201ccourageous female athletes\u201d holding firm for months, during a global pandemic no less. That level of work, within the greater swimming community and in concert with the women\u2019s golf team, is worth commemorating. So is the victory\u2019s larger ramifications beyond one swim team, as it applies to other women\u2019s sports fighting for survival.<\/p>\n

But the reprieve isn\u2019t permanent. And the 2024-25 timeline sketches out the group\u2019s next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does feel like it\u2019s great that we got this victory, and it feels like this is one step, but we need to come together as alumni of the college and really think through additional solutions,\u201d Zee said. \u201cThis was only a guarantee through 2024-25, which obviously doesn\u2019t feel super satisfying. So in order to be a competitive program and be a program where students want to come, we have to have a bit more longer-term view on this than short-term. Of course we were very excited today and we are certainly celebrating, but at the same time, we\u2019re thinking about, how do we set ourselves up where we can come together with the college and really think through how to come up with the best long-term solutions for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional Dartmouth reading<\/h4>\n