Growing up, Marie Mayerova loved playing tennis. As she entered secondary school in her native Czech Republic, she began to study English so she could accomplish her goal — play tennis in the United States while going to college.
She got good — both in tennis and in English, and Eastern Michigan University came calling. The Ypsilanti school recruited Marie and she scored high enough marks on her English aptitude test to get admission.
But she had one more hurdle to get over. She needed a student visa that would allow her into the U.S. She got one, but it came with a condition -- it was only good for her to study at Eastern.
So when Eastern disbanded the women's tennis team in March along with three other teams, Mayerova was in trouble.
Late last week, Mayerova and a women's softball player at Eastern, Ariana Chretien, sued the school in federal court, alleging violations of Title IX and asking a court to stop the programs from being disbanded. Mayerova and Chretien were unable to be reached Monday for comment.
"After (Eastern) disbanded the team, (Mayerova) received interest from other schools but does not have the resources to effectively transfer," the suit says. "To do so, she would have had to apply for and obtain admission to another institution with room for her on its women's tennis program, obtain a scholarship offer, withdraw from (Eastern), return to the Czech Republic, forfeit her student visa and re-apply for a new visa to attend a specific school."
Mayerova could stay at EMU, but that's not a fair choice for her, the suit says. The lawsuit implies more athletes face a similar situation but does not provide details.
"The choice to stay and forego their dream is not a real choice or a viable option for these Plaintiffs, nor is it a fair choice to ask of these student athletes who have given so much of their time, effort, blood, sweat and tears to their sports and the university that betrayed their trust."
The sports cut from EMU are softball, men’s swimming and diving, wrestling and women’s tennis. With the change, EMU, which previously led the Mid-American Conference with 21 sports, will now have 17 — seven men’s sports and 10 women’s sports. The school will remain in the MAC.
The moves come as EMU eliminates other positions in order to make up a projected budget deficit of $4.5 million to $5.5 million for the 2018 fiscal year. Forty-two other positions are being eliminated and 17 layoffs are being made.
The moves affected 58 male student-athletes and 25 female student-athletes, and will ultimately save approximately $2.4 million.
"EMU already discriminates against its female students by offering too few athletic opportunities," the suit says. "By eliminating women's tennis and softball, EMU will make this discrimination worse — despite also eliminating some men's opportunities."
Eastern said in a statement it isn't discriminating.
"We recognize how difficult this decision has been for the 83 student athletes who were participating in the four canceled sports. We have great respect for all of them, including the two students involved in the lawsuit.
"We believe our budgetary actions in this matter are wholly appropriate and justified. We are currently carefully reviewing the lawsuit and will respond further at the appropriate time and manner."
According to forms submitted to the NCAA for the 2017 fiscal year, EMU had 10,417 female undergraduate students, making up 59.4% of the student population, with 7,124 male students (40%). However, in sports, 56.1% of its athletes are male, compared to 43.9% female. Title IX requires opportunities for male and female athletes to match student body demographics.
There has been pressure from the athletes, former athletes and others in the community to get Eastern to reinstate the sports. Eastern officials have said repeatedly it doesn't plan to change its decision.
The school's board will meet on Friday morning to adopt the budget for the coming year, which includes the budget cuts.
Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj
