Citing Title IX Violations, Champion Women Sends Demand Letter for Reinstatement of Cal Poly Women’s Swimming
Several months after Cal Poly announced it was cutting its swimming programs, citing the House Settlement as the reason, Champion Women and Equity IX Sports Law have sent a letter to the university’s president demanding the women’s program is reinstated. Champion Women, headed by Olympic swimming gold medalist Nancy Hogshead, and Equity IX Sports Law, spearheaded by Leigh Ernst, have notified the school that its athletics department is not in compliance with Title IX.
The demand letter was sent to Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong. Additionally, the organization forwarded multiple documents that statistically show where Cal Poly is not in compliance with Title IX. Those documents, compiled by Cal Poly swimmers, can be found below.
Champion Women – Title IX Statistics
Cal Poly Facts & Information Sheet (Compiled by Champion Women)
Recently, Armstrong announced that fundraising efforts by members of the swim teams and alumni did not meet the necessary support required to reinstatement the Cal Poly swim programs. Armstrong will now have to answer to why the school is out of Title IX compliance, but has opted to cut a women’s athletics program.
Here is the letter sent to Cal Poly President Armstrong by Champion Women and Equity IX Sports Law:
Dear President Armstrong,
We have been retained by members of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (“Cal Poly”) Women’s Swimming & Diving Team (“Women’s Swimming”) to address concerns regarding gender-based inequities within the university’s athletic programs.
We respectfully request that Cal Poly take the necessary actions to ensure both immediate and long-term compliance with applicable state and federal laws. We urge your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to discussing potential solutions with you.
Elimination of Women’s Swimming – Violation of Title IX
On March 7, 2025, you publicly released “Letter from President Armstrong on Budget and Organizational Changes,” which announced that both Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Programs (“Programs”) would be “discontinued effective immediately.”
The elimination of Women’s Swimming is a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities, including athletics, for institutions that receive federal financial assistance.1 Title IX’s implementing regulations further specify that:
“[n]o person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient, and no recipient shall provide any such athletics separately on such basis.” 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(a).
This provision clearly mandates that Cal Poly must offer equitable athletic opportunities, and the elimination of Women’s Swimming on March 7, 2025, violates that mandate. Below are facts, data, and law that clearly demonstrate that Cal Poly cannot cut its Women’s Swimming Team. Further, Cal Poly needs to add additional women’s athletic teams.
Similarly, under California state law, discrimination on the basis of sex is prohibited in schools, and individuals are guaranteed the right of equitable treatment, benefits and an equitable opportunity to participate in all academic extracurricular activities, including athletics. Cal. Educ. Code § 221.8.2 This state provision further reinforces the protection offered under federal law, Title IX, ensuring that women have the same opportunity to participate in athletic programs as their male counterparts.
Based on available information, Cal Poly is not in compliance with Title IX or the Cal. Education Code § 221.8.
Evidence we have reviewed is clear: in Cal Poly’s athletic department, male students are receiving disproportionately more participation opportunities than female students, more athletic scholarship dollars, as well as more favorable treatment and benefits. These discrepancies directly contradict the requirement of both federal and state law, which mandates equal opportunities and equitable treatment for all students.
Equal Participation Opportunities, Equal Athletic Scholarships, & Equal Treatment and Benefits
Title IX prohibits three broad categories of discrimination against student-athletes based on sex. First, educational institutions must provide female students with equal athletic participation opportunities. 20 U.S.C. § 1681. Second, educational institutions must provide men and women with equal athletic scholarships.3 Third, long-standing federal law mandates female students receive equal treatment and benefits compared to their male counterparts.4
Cal Poly is engaging in all three forms of sex discrimination. Specifically, Cal Poly has failed to provide female athletes with equal participation opportunities, equal athletic scholarships, and has not ensured that female athletes receive equal treatment and benefits. These actions represent separate violations of Title IX.
Facts from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act
According to the most recent publicly available Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (“EADA”)5 report submitted by Cal Poly to the Department of Education, in the 2023-24 academic year, Cal Poly has an undergraduate population of 10,697 men and 10,774 women, with women representing 50.2% of total undergraduate enrollment.
During that same academic year, Cal Poly’s athletic department provided men with 403 athletic opportunities and women with 296 athletic opportunities, using the duplicated count. As such, women comprised 42.35% of total athletic participation opportunities. Using the unduplicated count, Cal Poly reported 357 males and 223 female athletes, meaning women comprise just 38.45% of all Cal Poly athletes.
Again, with the duplicated count, Cal Poly would need 38.9% more athletic opportunities for women in order to equal the number of opportunities the school provides to men, or 115 more women.
Using the unduplicated count, Cal Poly would need to add 141 more female athletes to its athletic programs in order to achieve equity in athletic participation opportunities.
Additional Facts From Roster Counts on Cal Poly’s Athletics Website
In 2023 – 2024, according to a roster count from Cal Poly’s athletics’ website,6 Cal Poly gave 365 men and 237 women athletic opportunities, including swimming. According to the Cal Poly website, women that year were just 39.3% of the athletes at Cal Poly.
In 2024 – 2025, according to a roster count from Cal Poly’s athletics website, Cal Poly provided athletic opportunities to 341 men and 220 women, including swimming. Again, according to the Cal Poly website, women were just 39.2% of athletes at Cal Poly.
EADA Athletic Scholarship Data
Women athletes at Cal Poly are entitled to equal athletic scholarship allocation while participating in athletic educational opportunities.7According to the EADA’s latest data, Cal Poly needs to add $1,428,121 in athletic scholarship aid for women.
EADA Athletic Recruiting Dollars Data
Women athletes are entitled to equal treatment while participating in athletic educational opportunities, including equal recruiting.8 According to the EADA’s latest data, Cal Poly needs to add $124,327 in recruiting dollars for its women’s sports.
Title IX Liability
On March 7, 2025, Athletic Director Don Oberhelman informed members of both the men’s and women’s swimming teams that both Swimming Programs were being discontinued. During this in-person meeting on campus, Mr. Oberhelman was directly asked whether the elimination of Women’s Swimming constituted a Title IX violation. He responded by stating that cutting Women’s Swimming does not violate Title IX.
Mr. Oberhelman’s assertion is legally incorrect and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of federal anti-discrimination law.
Even prior to the announced elimination of Swimming, Cal Poly would have needed to add 141 more female athletes to achieve compliance with Title IX.
Eliminating Men’s and Women’s Swimming cut 29 male athletes and 29 female athletes. The simultaneous discontinuation of both the Men’s and Women’s Swimming Teams, with the same number of athletes on each team, does not mitigate Cal Poly’s Title IX liability. But with women comprising 37.3% of total athletic participation, the cuts actually widened the participation gap between female enrollment and athletics participation to 12.9%.
Obviously, eliminating Women’s Swimming reduced athletic participation opportunities for women.
Here, the facts show that the gaps between men’s and women’s athletic opportunities at Cal Poly remains large. Both before and after the cuts to one or both Swimming Teams, women were not, and are not, receiving equal educational opportunities:
- in the percentage of women athletes in the athletic department,
- in the percentage of women athletes Cal Poly needs to add, and
- in the additional number of female athletes needed to equal the opportunities it currently provides its male students.
Financial Constraints Do Not Exempt Title IX Compliance
Financial constraints or budget cuts are not a valid excuse for non-compliance with federal laws. As a federally funded institution, Cal Poly is legally required to ensure that its athletic programs provide equal opportunities and treatment for female athletes, regardless of budgetary concerns.
Your March 7, 2025 letter to the teams stated that, “Cal Poly’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs will be discontinued effective immediately. While this is disappointing news to share, the financial realities made this decision unavoidable.” On June 16, 2025, you reiterated your financial concerns, stating, that despite raising $9 million, “the fundraising effort has fallen well short of the goal to reinstate the program.”
Title IX mandates that equitable access to sports programs, and this obligation cannot be circumvented due to financial limitations. In other words, Cal Poly cannot justify discriminatory treatment based on funding sources from boosters, sponsors or other third party sources. As the Civil Rights Restoration Act made clear, Title IX prohibits discrimination in all programs and activities of an institution that receives any federal funds, regardless of how a particular program or activity is funded.9 The fact that there may be different funding sources for different teams is irrelevant to the institution’s obligation to ensure equal treatment for the male and female sports programs. According to the Office for Civil Rights Investigator’s Manual:
[W]here booster clubs provide benefits or services that assist only teams of one sex, the institution shall ensure that teams of the other sex receive equivalent benefits and services. If booster clubs provide benefits and services to athletes of one sex that are greater than what the institution is capable of providing to athletes of the other sex, then the institution shall take action to ensure that benefits and services are equivalent for both sexes.10
In Brown v. Cohen, the court noted that if funding were a sufficient defense against claims of discrimination, Congress would not have needed to enact Title IX, which aims to eliminate gender discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance.11
Retaliation
Title IX prohibits retaliation against any individual who complains of sex discrimination, including parents, coaches, and students, regardless of whether that person was the direct victim of discrimination in the original complaint.12
Complainants seeking to exercise their rights under Title IX are afforded both statutory and regulatory protections against retaliation. Retaliation from complaints of sex discrimination is considered “intentional conduct that violates the clear terms of [Title IX].’” Ollier v. Sweetwater Union High Sch. Dist., 858 F. Supp. 2d at 1113.
It is our understanding that Title IX and retaliation claims related to Women’s Swimming have already been filed against Cal Poly. Therefore, it is imperative that Cal Poly take all necessary steps to ensure that no member of Women’s Swimming, nor anyone associated with them (including family members, friends, their supporters, or coaches), is subjected to any form of retaliation.
Remedy – Reinstate Women’s Swimming, and
Provide Women with Equal Treatment & Benefits
We respectfully request that Cal Poly representatives meet with us to engage in productive and structured negotiations aimed at helping the university implement both immediate short and long-term changes, to ensure compliance with Title IX. Specifically, we propose the following actions:
- Reinstate Women’s Swimming immediately;
- Elevate Women’s Athletic Scholarships on the Swimming Team;
- Ensure Women’s Swimming and all female athletes at Cal Poly receive Equal Treatment and Benefits, including Recruiting Budgets; and
- Create a plan to add additional women’s teams post-haste, to provide women at Cal Poly with equal educational opportunities.
We look forward to discussing these matters with you and working toward a resolution that ensures full compliance with both federal and state law.
Please respond to this letter as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than Monday, July 7, 2025.
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