Former members of the women’s equestrian team at the University of California, Davis, have filed a federal class-action lawsuit that alleges the university violated Title IX by providing less financial aid to female student-athletes compared to their male counterparts.
In athletics, Title IX requires educational institutions to provide athletic financial aid to male and female athletes in amounts that are proportional to their participation status. According to the plaintiffs, UC Davis shorted its female athletes by some $1.4 million in athletic financial aid during the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 academic years. The plaintiffs also seek additional damages for other academic years, including more recent years without publicly available data. These financial aid disparities affected not only the women’s equestrian team, but also female athletes competing in different sports at the university, according to the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit comes after UC Davis eliminated women’s equestrian as an NCAA Division I varsity sport. As of July 1, the program is now a club team.
“When UC Davis cut the equestrian team, it showed what it cared about was the money. So, this case focuses on the money,” said Arthur Bryant, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. “UC Davis’s own numbers show it has been cheating its women athletes out of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in equal athletic financial aid.”