By admin 
Months after the University of California, Davis eliminated its women’s varsity equestrian program, 19 former members of the team filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against the UC Board of Regents over sex discrimination.
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UC Davis, they say, deprived all its female athletes of equal athletic financial aid for at least a decade, amounting to a violation of federal civil rights law.
Title IX is a federal civil rights law enacted in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. Under Title IX, schools must provide equal athletic opportunity and ensure the total amount of athletic scholarships and financial aid for male and female students is proportional to their athletic participation rates.
“We were devastated when UC Davis eliminated the equestrian team, which was successful and thriving,” said Anna Donovan, who is part of the lawsuit and former member of the team, in a statement. “Then, we were stunned even more when the school tried to defend its decision by releasing a consultant’s report showing it was depriving women athletes annually of hundreds of thousands of dollars in equal athletic financial aid.”
In response to backlash following UC Davis’ January decision to cut its varsity equestrian program, the school released an “independent assessment” conducted by an external firm that it said had contributed to its decision-making. In addition to evaluating the national competitive landscape for varsity equestrian, the . It showed that women make up 59% of the school’s student athletes but receive only 56% of student athlete financial aid. The discrepancy, per the report, was projected to worsen in the 2026-2027 school year.
The lawsuit, according to attorneys representing the athletes, is based on that data and reports UC Davis provided to the U.S. Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Those reports, the lawsuit says, show the school failed to pay its female varsity student-athletes between $141,474 and $577,560 annually in athletic financial aid from 2017 to 2025.
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“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 counsel for the athletes. “UC Davis’ own numbers show it has been cheating its women athletes out of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in equal athletic financial aid. That is clear and indisputable sex discrimination.”
The lawsuit seeks nearly $1.4 million in damages for female athletes who it says were deprived of financial aid in favor of male athletes in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. It also seeks unspecified damages financial aid inequalities in other years and a court order requiring UC Davis to comply with Title IX and provide equal athletic financial aid to female and male athletes.
Before filing the lawsuit, Bryant said he had attempted to reach an agreement with the school to resolve the issue. In March, he sent a letter to Chancellor Gary May saying UC Davis was depriving its female intercollegiate student athletes of equal athletic financial aid and equal treatment and benefits. The school, however, maintained throughout that it was “fully compliant with Title IX requirements.”
Now, the issue will be decided in the court of law. Bryant, who describes himself on his website as “the nation’s top Title IX athletics lawyer,” represented 15 former women student athletes at San Diego State in a similar case that ended in a $300,000 settlement earlier this year.
This is not the first lawsuit filed since UC Davis axed the varsity equestrian team in January. In March, a member of the team filed a lawsuit against the school’s athletics leaders alleging fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress through the sudden elimination of the team. While that case is currently in the Yolo County Superior Court, a similar suit filed in February was dismissed by the federal court in Sacramento over lack of jurisdiction.
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This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 2:42 PM.