Robbins v. Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n

• Decision Date: 08 August 1996
• Docket Number: No. NA 96-98-C H/R.,NA 96-98-C H/R.
• Parties: Paige ROBBINS, by her next friends and parents Paul & Pam ROBBINS, Plaintiff, v. INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

941 F.Supp. 786

Paige ROBBINS, by her next friends and parents Paul & Pam ROBBINS, Plaintiff, v. INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendant.

No. NA 96-98-C H/R.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, New Albany Division.

August 8, 1996.

Jay D. Allen, Allen Allen & Allen, Salem, IN, For Paige Robbins.

Robert M. Baker, III, Johnson Smith Pence Densborn Wright & Heath, Indianapolis, IN, For Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND ORDER DENYING INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

HUSSMANN, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter comes before the Honorable William G. Hussmann, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge,¹ on the Complaint for Injunctive Relief filed by Paige Robbins ("Robbins"), by her next friends and parents Paul and Pam Robbins. Robbins seeks to enjoin the defendant, Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. ("IHSAA"), from enforcing the IHSAA Transfer Rule, which prevents Robbins from participating as a member of the Providence High School ("Providence") varsity volleyball team during the Fall 1996 semester. In addition, Robbins seeks to enjoin enforcement of the IHSAA Transfer Rule.

At the parties' request, a hearing was held on the plaintiffs' Complaint for Injunctive Relief on July 31, 1996.² At the conclusion of the testimony, the Court took the matter under advisement and gave counsel for the parties the option to submit proposed findings and conclusions to the Court.

The parties having submitted their proposed findings and conclusions, and the Court, having reviewed the same and having considered the evidence, including the transcript of the IHSAA appeal hearing held on March 22, 1996, and the arguments and authorities submitted by counsel in support of their respective theories in the case, and being duly advised, now enters the following Findings, Conclusions and Order:

JURISDICTION

This suit was originally commenced in Washington County, Indiana, with the filing of a Complaint for Injunctive Relief. On July 15, 1996, the IHSAA removed the action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446. This Court has original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 in that there has been an allegation of a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and a claim asserted under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

FINDINGS

1. Robbins, a minor, is the daughter of Paul and Pam Robbins, and resides with her parents in Washington County, Indiana.

2. Robbins is a high school student who formerly attended Eastern Pekin High School ("Eastern") where she completed her freshman and sophomore years and the first semester of her junior year. She then transferred to Providence (a parochial school) in January 1996 for the second semester of her junior year. Robbins will be a senior at Providence this fall.

3. The IHSAA is a voluntary not-for-profit corporation, open to all public, private, parochial and institutional schools in the State of Indiana, with its principal office located in Marion County, Indiana. Both Eastern and Providence are members of the IHSAA. All public schools and 34 private schools are members of the IHSAA at this time. (Testimony of Gardner.)

4. The public and private Indiana high schools who have associated together, through the IHSAA, have adopted rules regarding eligibility and other matters related to interscholastic athletic competition among themselves. The purpose of the IHSAA is to encourage, regulate and give direction to wholesome, amateur interscholastic athletic competition between member schools.

5. Membership in the IHSAA is voluntary and open to all Indiana high schools which happen to be accredited by the Indiana Department of Education. The IHSAA is governed by a Board of Directors and Executive Committee elected by a majority vote of its school membership.

6. By their membership in the IHSAA, member schools agree to administer their interscholastic athletic programs in accordance with the rules as adopted by the IHSAA.

7. The uniform rules of the IHSAA which govern eligibility of students who compete in interscholastic athletic competition, and other matters related to interscholastic athletic competition, are contained in the IHSAA Eligibility Rules and are established by a majority vote of the members of the IHSAA Board of Directors. The Eligibility Rules are contained in the IHSAA Manual which was made a part of the evidence.

8. Included in the Eligibility Rules is Rule 19, the Transfer Rule. Under the Transfer Rule, a student who transfers to an IHSAA member school, with a corresponding change of residence by the student's parents, may have immediate full eligibility at the new school, provided the transfer is not athletically motivated. Further under the Rule, a student who transfers, for nonathletic reasons, to an IHSAA member school without a corresponding change of residence by the student's parents will have limited eligibility for the first year after his or her transfer, unless the student falls within one of thirteen exceptions which permit full eligibility under those circumstances. If a transfer is athletically motivated, the student has no eligibility for the year following the transfer.

9. Transfers of students from school to school motivated by athletic purposes, or school jumping, have historically been considered a problem in Indiana high school sports and addressed by the membership through the implementation of a transfer rule. The reasons for adopting a transfer rule are set out in ten subparagraphs in the philosophy section which precedes the text of Rule 19. These reasons include the fact that transfer rules protect the opportunities of bona fide students to participate in athletics; they support the educational philosophy that athletics is a privilege which must not be permitted to assert a dominant position over academic endeavors; and they support the principle that high school students should live at home with parents or guardians and attend school in the district where the parents live.

10. The current Transfer Rule distinguishes between transfers involving a parental move and transfers which do not. The current Transfer Rule does not depend on detailed factual investigations because of the sheer number of transfers (3,000 last year) and because detailed factual investigations are neither effective nor economically feasible. (Testimony of Garner.)

11. The current Transfer Rule also incorporates a limited eligibility feature. The IHSAA has determined that the majority of athletically motivated transfers occur among student athletes who play at a varsity level, and therefore, permitting subvarsity level participation but prohibiting varsity level participation following a transfer discourages athletically motivated transfers, but at the same time, permits some athletic participation for the majority of students following a transfer. (Testimony of Garner.)

12. Robbins participated in volleyball at the varsity level for two seasons while attending Eastern.

13. Robbins' parents have not moved their residence; rather, Robbins transferred from Eastern, which is a public school serving her parents' school district, to Providence, which is a private parochial school.

14. Robbins does not fall under any of the thirteen exceptions found at Section 19-6.1 of the Transfer Rule.

15. Under the Transfer Rule, Robbins is only eligible to participate in interscholastic sports at a subvarsity level until January 1997.

16. On January 24, 1996, Robbins submitted a Transfer Report to the IHSAA and requested that she be granted immediate full eligibility.

17. On January 29, 1996, IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Pat Roy ruled that Robbins would have limited eligibility (Rule 19-6.2) because she changed schools without a corresponding change of residence by her parents, and because she did not fall within any of the thirteen exceptions at Section 19-6.1 of the Transfer Rule.

18. Pursuant to the IHSAA Eligibility Rules, on February 12, 1996, Robbins, through Providence, appealed the decision to the IHSAA Executive Committee. On March 22, 1996, a full hearing was held before the IHSAA Executive Committee, at which Robbins' parents appeared and testified. Thereafter, the IHSAA Executive Committee entered its ruling upholding the decision of Assistant Commissioner Roy, and declaring that Robbins have immediate limited eligibility. Robbins would not receive full eligibility until a period of 365 days had expired, commencing on the date Robbins enrolled at Providence. This ruling is the subject matter of these proceedings.

19. A transcript of the testimony given at the IHSAA hearing before its Executive Committee on March 22, 1996, and the exhibits and written decision, were all made a part of the evidence.

20. At the hearing before this Court, Robbins established by convincing evidence that she has recently converted to Catholicism and that such conversion was a factor in her decision to transfer to Providence, a parochial school. She also presented evidence that she is going to be taking certain advanced courses at Providence not available at Eastern. These courses give her college credit and are advanced placement courses that will assist in her current pre-medical career path. The availability of these courses was another factor in her decision to transfer. Finally, she presented evidence that she was seeking "new challenges" or "other challenges," and that those "challenges" were a factor in her decision to transfer to Providence. Robbins stated that participation in athletics was not a consideration in her decision; the Athletic Director at Eastern supported Robbins' testimony; and the IHSAA Administrator admitted that there is no evidence in the possession of the IHSAA that her transfer is athletically motivated. There is no evidence that Robbins anticipates obtaining a scholarship to attend college as a result of her volleyball skills.

21. By attending Providence, Robbins will be able to take some religious...