## Facts

- Eric Washington, a high school student, experienced persistent academic failure, was retained in eighth grade, and was later advanced to ninth grade midyear.
- After continued academic difficulties, a counselor suggested he drop out; he did so.
- In 1997, Washington enrolled at Central Catholic High School, where testing first diagnosed him with a learning disability; a teacher/coach mentored him academically.
- The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) enforced an “eight-semester rule” limiting athletic eligibility to eight consecutive semesters after a student first begins ninth grade, which would have ended Washington’s eligibility after the first semester of the 1998–1999 school year.
- Central Catholic sought a waiver, asserting Washington’s dropout and educational disruptions were connected to his learning disability; IHSAA denied the waiver.
- Washington and Central Catholic sued under Title II of the ADA and obtained a preliminary injunction preventing IHSAA from applying the rule to bar Washington’s participation for the second semester of 1998–1999.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction under ADA Title II enjoining IHSAA from enforcing the eight-semester rule against a learning-disabled student who sought a waiver as a reasonable modification.
2. Whether, for Title II purposes, IHSAA could be treated as a “public entity” in administering interscholastic athletics.
3. Whether allowing one additional semester of eligibility was a reasonable modification rather than a fundamental alteration of the athletic program.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding a reasonable likelihood that Washington was a qualified individual with a disability and that IHSAA functioned as a public entity for its interscholastic athletic role.
- The court agreed the record supported an inference that Washington’s academic failures and dropout were substantially related to his learning disability and that strict application of the rule could exclude him by reason of disability.
- The court upheld the district court’s conclusion that a one-semester waiver was a modest, individualized modification that, on the preliminary record, did not fundamentally alter the program.
- The court accepted that loss of a time-limited opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics may constitute irreparable harm and that the balance of harms and public interest favored temporary relief.

## Legal Principles

- A preliminary injunction requires a showing of some likelihood of success on the merits, no adequate remedy at law, and irreparable harm; the court then weighs harms and considers the public interest.
- Title II bars exclusion of a qualified individual with a disability from a public entity’s services, programs, or activities by reason of disability.
- Title II may require reasonable modification of facially neutral eligibility rules when necessary to avoid disability-based exclusion, unless the modification would fundamentally alter the program.
- In assessing fundamental alteration, courts consider the specific requested modification and its actual impact, not generalized assertions that any exception defeats the rule’s purposes.
- An athletic association may be treated as a public entity for Title II when it performs delegated, statewide regulatory functions over interscholastic athletics.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction requiring temporary athletic eligibility for a learning-disabled student, concluding that Title II likely required an individualized, one-semester waiver of a neutral eligibility rule and that the equities and public interest supported interim relief pending a final merits determination.


Washington v. Ind. High Sch. Athletic Ass’n, Inc., 181 F.3d 840 (7th Cir. 1999)