A basketball
player is suing her college and her coach for $2 million,
saying her scholarship was revoked when she complained
about being targeted for being a lesbian. Jennifer
Colli, a former guard for Southern Methodist
University's women's basketball team, says that coach Rhonda
Rompola made several inquiries about a relationship with
another teammate, according to The Dallas Morning News.
During games the
coaching staff would talk about "how people were not
performing well because they had not 'gotten any' the night
before," Colli's complaint says. At one-on-one
meetings Colli asked what she had to do to improve for
the upcoming season, but Rompola would ask about her
relationship with another player and what their plans were
for the next year. Colli said other teammates had
similar encounters with the coaching staff. Four other
players -- including Colli's sister Juli -- signed a
statement, supporting Colli's claim that coaches talked
openly about athletes' relationships.
Colli started at
Dallas-based SMU in 2005 as a freshman. The first
official team meeting, she says in her claim, was about the
lesbian "relationships on the team, and how Rompola
did not approve of them." Colli said she didn't
understand the meeting because in previous
conversations Rompola mentioned that there were several
intimate relationships between athletes and staff.
Colli's athletic
scholarship was renewed for the 2006-2007 season, but
after Colli complained to the athletic director about
Rompola in June 2006, she was notified two months
later that she would no longer receive her scholarship
due to "serious misconduct." Steve Orsini, the
athletic director, said Colli's statements could not be
verified.
Colli lost an
appeal to get her scholarship back. She claimed that she
was treated unfairly, partially because SMU bypassed the
normal disciplinary authority required in cases of
alleged misconduct.
Colli finished
the fall semester at SMU and then transferred to Odessa
College, where she led the basketball team in scoring,
averaging more than 12 points a game.
Colli said she
attempted to transfer to Oregon State to play for its
basketball team in June 2008. Coach LaVonda Wagner orally
offered her a scholarship, pending a conversation with
Rompola. Colli agreed, and then days later, the
scholarship was rescinded. Wagner, however, told The Dallas Morning News that she never spoke to
Rompola.
In the 2005-2006
season Colli played 15 games for a total of 101 minutes,
scoring 29 points. She was a top player for Marcus High
School in Flower Mound, Texas, once scoring 41 points
in a single game. (Michelle Garcia, The
Advocate)
