proportionality is achieved.” Equity in Athletics, Inc. v. Dep’t of Educ., 639 F.3d 91, 110 (4th Cir. 2011); see also 1996 Clarification. Rather, “substantial proportionality is determined on a case-by-case basis in light of ‘the institution’s specific circumstances and the size of its athletic program.’” Biediger, 691 F.3d at 94 (quoting 1996 Clarification).[1] As a general rule, there is substantial proportionality “if the number of additional participants … required for exact proportionality ‘would not be sufficient to sustain a viable team.’” Id. (quoting 1996 Clarification).
Between 1998 and 2008, female enrollment at Castle Park ranged from a low of 975 (in the 2007–2008 school year) to a high of 1133 (2001–2002). Male enrollment ranged from 1128 (2000–2001) to 1292 (2004–2005). Female athletes ranged from 144 (1999–2000 and 2003–2004) to 198 (2002–2003), while male athletes ranged from 221 (2005–2006) to 343 (2004–2005). Perhaps more helpfully stated, girls made up 45.4–49.6 percent of the student body at Castle Park but only 33.4–40.8 percent of the athletes from 1998 to 2008. At no point in that ten-year span was the disparity between the percentage of female athletes and the percentage of female students less than 6.7 percent. It was less than 10 percent in only three years, and at least 13 percent in five years. In the three years at issue in this
- ↑ An institution that sought to explain a disparity from substantial proportionality should show how its specific circumstances justifiably explain the reasons for the disparity as being beyond its control.
