Since the advent of Title IX, universities have increasingly faced discrimination lawsuits brought by female athletes or their advocates. These plaintiffs allege violations ranging from unequal funding and unequal facilities, to the elimination of women’s sports teams, to retaliation against staff members that notice and attempt to rectify Title IX problems.  A number of recent cases have helped to define the scope and force of the law.

• In 1996, female athletes from Brown University brought a suit in federal court accusing Brown of discriminating against women by demoting its women's gymnastics and volleyball teams from university-funded to donor-funded varsity status. Brown argued that, because both men’s and women’s teams did receive funding, it was in compliance with Title IX. The University also brought a challenge against Title IX, based on the stereotype that men are more interested in sports than women, which the court rejected. The court ruled against Brown, and the Supreme Court denied Brown’s request for certiorari. The women's teams were restored to university-funded status.

• In 2000, female students at Louisiana State University sued their school for refusing to offer them athletic participation opportunities equal to those offered to male students. The women had extensively lobbied for LSU to field fast pitch softball and soccer teams. LSU tried to argue that there was not enough interest to add the teams, but the court rejected this argument as paternalistic stereotyping. The plaintiffs also demonstrated that highly successful women’s teams, such as volleyball, were denied opportunities that the school offered to unranked men’s teams, such as basketball. In addition, the court pointed to evidence that clearly illustrated the sexism, sometimes amounting to sexual harassment, that female athletes faced from LSU administrators. The court held that LSU discriminated against its female students in violation of Title IX, and the University added the two women's teams. However, the plaintiffs were not awarded monetary compensation because the court found that the violations were not intentional.

• In 2002, a sampling of thirty colleges and universities in twenty-four states were cited for failing to give their female athletes a fair share of athletic scholarship dollars. The amount that each female athlete was shortchanged ranged from $4,000 to over $26,000, over the course of a four-year college career. If the thirty schools had awarded female athletes their fair share, the young women at those schools would have received an additional $6.5 million in athletic scholarships.

• In 2005, the Supreme Court decided in favor of Roderick Jackson. The Birmingham girl’s high school basketball team that Jackson coached was consistently given inferior equipment and inequitable funding. Jackson persistently requested more money and access to the same equipment that the boys used. These requests were denied, and Jackson was eventually fired. The Supreme Court held that Jackson had the right to sue under Title IX to challenge his retaliatory dismissal. The Birmingham School Board reinstated Jackson and agreed to make all efforts necessary to ensure Title IX compliance.

• Also in 2005, the Supreme Court dismissed a suit brought by the National Wrestling Coaches Association against the Department of Education. The plaintiffs alleged that the Department’s enforcement of Title IX harmed male college athletes by diverting money from the less popular and lucrative men’s teams, such as wrestling, to pay for women’s programs. The decision made it clear that the Department of Education and Title IX cannot be blamed for a college’s decision to eliminate a particular men’s sport. The Court also reaffirmed the importance and effectiveness of Title IX.

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