WATERVILLE (AP) – Colby College has reached an out-of-court settlement with five female athletes who filed a federal lawsuit last year accusing the school of violating Title IX gender equity laws.

Under the accord, the college will adjust coaching assignments and remodel the women’s locker room. In addition, Colby agreed to set or maintain policies and practices to ensure equivalent programs for men’s and women’s teams.

The five students who brought the case – Wendy Bonner, Kristin Putnam, Heather DeVito, Adrienne LeClair and Rebecca Avrutin – claimed that the college failed to meet the requirements of Title IX.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor alleged that Colby gave female athletes short shrift because two women’s coaches serve as the coaches of four teams – one for field hockey and lacrosse, the other for soccer and hockey.

The school agreed under the settlement to split the assignment of one of the coaches by next fall. By the fall of 2005, Colby will either split the remaining dual coaching assignment or adjust coaching assignments of men’s teams to assure balance between men’s and women’s programs, said Jerrol Crouter, the college’s legal counsel.

Title IX, a 1972 law credited for huge growth in girls’ and women’s sports, prohibits discrimination based on sex in sports or academics by a school or college that receives federal money.

The plaintiffs, all varsity athletes, claimed that men’s teams at Colby received favorable treatment compared to women’s in such areas as funding, equipment, uniforms, travel and per diem expenses, coaching and facilities.

Their legal team included Ray Yasser of the University of Tulsa College of Law and Samuel Schiller of the Schiller Law Firm of Cookeville, Tenn., which specializes in Title IX cases.

Schiller said the women had no interest in micromanaging the college’s athletics program but were seeking to ensure equity for future generations of female athletes.

“By working together, the plaintiffs and the college have done that. Everyone has come out of this a winner,” he said.

Colby spokesman Steve Collins said the school agreed on the need to treat men and women equitably.

“In reaching this accord, the college and the students involved concur that there is no better time than the present to address these important issues in a collaborative effort to improve Colby’s overall athletics program,” he said.