FRESNO Calif.
A jury on Monday awarded a former Fresno
State volleyball coach $5.85
million in damages, ruling that the school discriminated against her for
speaking up on behalf of female athletes.
Lindy Vivas, 50, was fired in 2004, two years after coaching
her team to its best season in history. University officials said Vivas was let
go because she did not meet performance goals and ran a program that often
played in empty arenas.
Vivas sued in civil court, saying her contract was not
renewed because she raised her voice to advocate for equal treatment of women
athletes and access to facilities at Fresno
State, a Division I school with a
sprawling central California
campus.
The jury award, which took into account Vivas’ back wages,
future lost pay and emotional distress, is likely the largest ever granted to a
coach suing for retaliation under Title IX, a landmark federal law requiring
gender equity in scholastic athletics, said the coach’s lawyer, Dan Siegel.
“Fresno State
wants to be a big-time athletic power, but it has to start acting like one.
That means treating men and women the same,” Siegel said. “This is a
complete vindication of her and who Lindy is as a person, as a coach, and what
she had to live with as a result of their actions.”
University officials said Monday they feared publicity had
influenced the outcome of the trial and that the school planned to appeal the
case “on a variety of grounds.”
