The Abridged version:
- Four current and prospective UC Davis equestrian student athletes filed a lawsuit against the school after it decided to discontinue the Division I program.
- The suit alleges that officials knowingly continued recruitment and fundraising even as they planned to end the program.
- All of the plaintiffs said they would have considered going elsewhere if they knew the team was going to be dissolved.
UC Davis equestrians aren’t going down without a fight.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, four current and prospective student athletes alleged that university officials knowingly continued recruitment, fundraising and athlete enrollment even as they were making plans to end the program’s Division I status. The move comes a month after the school’s athletic department announced that it was demoting equestrian to a club sport and promoting stunt cheerleading.
UC Davis does not comment on pending litigation, but offered a statement on the equestrian situation at large.
“These decisions were made following extensive external and internal analysis and thoughtful collaboration with campus leadership. As the landscape of Division I athletics continues to evolve, it is important that we regularly evaluate how we best align our resources to support student athletes, advance gender equity, and position UC Davis Athletics for long-term success,” said UC Davis Athletic Director Rocko DeLuca in an emailed statement.
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Plaintiffs would have gone elsewhere
In the complaint, all four athletes said they would have considered going elsewhere if they had known that UC Davis was going to revoke the team’s status. Each provided a detailed schedule of the official recruiting process they went through before committing, including campus visits, UC Davis logos to use on national signing day, measurements for uniforms and assurances from coaching staff that the team would continue being competitive in years to come.
Then, when the university announced its plans to discontinue the program on Jan. 9, the athletes said they were left with few options because the opportunities for transfer and recruitment to other schools had closed.
Planning and fundraising
The complaint alleges that the university had been planning to close the program for months, pointing to its hiring of a consulting firm to provide analysis for such a move and its restructuring of equestrian coaches’ contracts to end this year.
In the meantime, the complaint alleges, equestrian coaches were actively recruiting athletes and the university continued to raise money for the team, leaving its option to “Donate a Horse” on the fundraising website.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to rule that UC Davis must maintain its equestrian program at least until they have graduated, and for compensation due to damages.
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.