Kelley v. University of Illinois

Facing a $600,000 athletic budget deficit, the University of Illinois (defendant) cut four varsity teams — men's and women's diving, men's fencing, and men's swimming — while declining to also cut women's swimming specifically to avoid Title IX liability, since female students made up 44 percent of the student body but only 23 percent of athletes even before any cuts. Kelley and other men's swimming team members (plaintiffs) sued, alleging the university's choice to single out men's programs was reverse discrimination under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause; the district court ruled for the university, and Kelley appealed.