HANOVER — Dartmouth College is seeking the Hanover Planning Board’s approval of a $3.6 million renovation to the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse “to address existing equity issues” between the men’s and women’s locker rooms.

On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to review a plan for two additions totaling 2,800 square feet to the existing 6,000-square-foot clubhouse on Lyme Road.

When the clubhouse was built in 2005, both the men’s and women’s rugby teams competed at the club level. In 2015, the women’s team became a varsity sport.

The proposed renovation would expand the women’s locker room, as well as create locker room space for visiting teams, said Jana Barnello, a college spokesperson.

“The clubhouse facility no longer meets the needs of a varsity program,” Andrew Miraldi, of the college’s project management services, wrote in a letter accompanying the submitted plan. “The college intends to undergo a renovation project that will involve major site improvements such as the additions on the eastern and northern corners of the existing structure to address the existing equity issues within the clubhouse locker room spaces.”

Dartmouth has a strong women’s rugby program. Two-time Olympian and bronze medalist Ariana Ramsey, played on the team before graduating in 2023. This fall, the team is undefeated and currently ranked first in the NCAA Northern Intercollegiate Rugby Association.

Dartmouth men’s rugby, which is still a club sport, finished their regular season with a 7-2 record.

This proposed renovation is part of Dartmouth Athletics’ Gender Equity Plan released in 2022. A larger effort by the college to address the findings and recommendations by a Title IX gender equity review conducted in 2021 by Holland & Knight, a Florida-based law firm that specialized in Title IX — a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in programs that receive federal funding — compliance.

The review came after Dartmouth attempted in 2020 to eliminate the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program, men’s and women’s golf, along with men’s lightweight rowing. A combined 21 members of the women’s swimming and diving team and women’s golf team threatened the college with a Title IX lawsuit. In 2021, the college agreed to reinstate the five teams.

Locker rooms, offices, and meeting and activity spaces in Berry Sports Center and Thompson Arena are also on the list of renovations intended to “provide gender-equitable facilities for the women’s sports teams that use these facilities,” according to the Gender Equity Plan.

If the rugby clubhouse additions receive town approval, construction could begin in March and be completed in May 2026, the college wrote in its application.

Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 41 S. Main St., and via Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/820154300.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.