San Diego State University has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a class action lawsuit brought by a group of female student- athletes who claimed the school deprived them of equal athletic financial aid in violation of Title IX.<\/p>\n
The settlement approved Monday by a San Diego federal judge ends what the plaintiffs’ attorneys said was the first case to recover class-wide damages from a school for allegedly depriving its female athletes of equal athletic financial aid. It also included what U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson wrote was an “unprecedented monetary award.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, plaintiffs’ lead counsel Arthur Bryant said, “These women have made history. This is the first school to pay class-wide damages to female athletes for discriminating against them in violation of Title IX. But it sure won’t be the last.”<\/p>\n
Among the settlement terms are an agreement from SDSU to ensure Title IX compliance by the end of the 2026-27 academic year, hire an outside expert to conduct a gender equity review, and develop a gender equity plan.<\/p>\n
SDSU maintained that the school did not violate Title IX and noted the judge did not make any determination regarding which side had prevailed in the case.<\/p>\n
“The settlement expressly states that any payments are non-precedential and are not an agreement that student-athletes are entitled to damages,” the school’s statement said. “SDSU does not discriminate against its female student-athletes. Its funding level for women’s scholarships is a point of pride. The university supports and promotes its female student- athletes, and is proud of their accomplishments. Throughout the history of our program, our female student-athletes have represented a wide range of sports and are high achievers both on and off the field.”<\/p>\n
The lawsuit filed in 2022 by more than a dozen former and then-current SDSU student-athletes alleged female athletes were illegally denied aid, as Title IX requires schools to grant athletic financial aid in amounts proportional to male and female athletic participation rates.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit claimed that 57.22% of SDSU student-athletes were female in the 2020-21 year, so they should have received 57.22% of the athletic financial aid awarded, but actually received 50.64%. The plaintiffs’ attorneys said this amounted to SDSU’s then-305 female varsity-student athletes getting around $570,000 less than they should have.<\/p>\n
“This lawsuit should not have been necessary, but SDSU refused to give women athletes the equal athletic aid, treatment and benefits they deserve and Title IX requires,” plaintiff Carina Clark, a former track and field athlete, said in a statement released Tuesday.<\/p>\n