Nine female athletes at Concordia University Irvine filed a sex discrimination class action lawsuit on August 13. The move stems from the cutting of four programs in May: the NCAA Division II men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s and women’s tennis teams.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses CUI of violating Title IX by depriving women of equal opportunities to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
“CUI’s decision to eliminate the women’s swimming & diving and tennis teams is a flagrant violation of Title IX,” said Arthur Bryant, the lead counsel for the women, in Arthur Bryant Law’s press release. “According to the most recent publicly available information, women were 59% of CUI’s undergraduates in 2024-25, but they were given only 51.2% of the opportunities to participate in varsity sports. CUI needs to add about 100 opportunities for women to reach gender equity. It should not be eliminating any women’s teams.”
Bryant sent a letter to CUI President Michael A. Thomas on June 16, warning that cutting the women’s teams would violate Title IX and requesting a meeting to discuss preserving the programs while ensuring compliance.
Lawyers for both sides met multiple times over the following month after the university received Bryant’s letter. However, on July 17, CUI declined to restore the women’s teams or commit to Title IX compliance, prompting the athletes to file suit.
The plaintiffs also filed for a temporary restraining order to preserve the women’s teams during litigation. No hearing date has been scheduled yet.
“We are suing CUI because it refused to comply with Title IX, provide women with equal opportunities to participate in varsity sports, and preserve our teams unless we did,” said Alexandra Grant, a sophomore on the women’s swimming & diving team. “We wish it wasn’t necessary, but we are doing what all women faced with sex discrimination need to do: stand up and fight for our rights.”
The press release also lists Mikayla Barre (swimming), Jessica Bear (tennis), Kiera Gutierrez (swimming), Bryn Johnson (tennis), Alexandra Leland (swim), Ruby McCullough (swim), Aliyah Treadwell (swim), and Carissa Ward (swimming) as plaintiffs in the case.
While the university attributed the program cuts to rising operational costs and facility limitations, that reasoning was quickly contradicted just days later. In an email to athletes in unaffected sports, Crystal Rosenthal, Associate Vice President of Athletics and head softball coach, announced a $25.5 million investment in athletic infrastructure.
The investment includes a new 19,000-square-foot facility featuring a state-of-the-art weight room, locker rooms, and modern training room space. The university also plans upgrades to baseball, softball, and soccer/track/lacrosse facilities, including the installation of lights on each outdoor field.
According to federal data, the swimming program had 23 men and 25 women last season, while the tennis program had 10 men and 10 women.
The school, which has an undergraduate enrollment of 1,474, is a private Lutheran-affiliated school. The school was an NAIA school but completed its transition to become a full NCAA Division II member in summer 2017. Student-athletes make up almost a third of the school’s enrollment.
The swimming & diving teams finished 6th on the women’s side and 4th on the men’s side at the 2025 PCSC Championship meet. The men’s tennis team, meanwhile, just won their first-ever NCAA West Regional and advanced to the NCAA tournament, where they lost 4-2. The women’s team finished 5th in the PacWest.
This is exactly what needs to happen. Per the Department of Education, OCR and Title IX, CUI must immediately be in compliance with Title IX after the sport cuts. If the eliminated roster numbers and enrollment figures are accurate, it sounds as if they were not in compliance prior to the sport cuts. While this does not mean the sports will be reinstated, it does mean the resulting and available budgetary, facility, staffing, scholarships, support resources, means of transportation and training times (among other areas) must be allocated and provided in accordance with Title IX. This must be done immediately or risk monetary awards to the discriminated parties, NCAA participation sanctions and / or loss of federal funding.
Heck yes! I am so proud of these women!
The school acted in such poor faith by not giving the students the opportunity to look for scholarships elsewhere.
The school has always prioritized sports like basketball, volleyball, softball, and baseball. It is not fair that the athletic director is also associated with the softball team.
Honor Title IX. Restore the women’s program [and the men’s, please]. Protect Olympic Sports!
RELEASE THE Ceo List! we Want to Dee it. Michael Phelps’s still missing.
Randy
Bro. chill.