CBU Wrestlers Say University Discriminated Against Male Athletes, Ask Court To Reinstate Program

After spending months protesting against the decision to cut their team, three California Baptist University (CBU) wrestlers have filed suit against the school in an effort to save the program. 

“I hope it works, so that way we can get back in the room and start training,” Jesse Vasquez, one of the three wrestlers who filed the lawsuit, said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “Everywhere else in the world is getting better, and I’m losing days.” 

The university announced January 2 it would discontinue its men’s swimming and diving, golf and wrestling programs by the end of the spring semester. University officials, in a statement, said the cuts were necessary as it looked to invest in other programs. 

CBU set up a website following the announcement to address common questions, which said federal gender equity rules, called Title IX, played a role in the school’s decision. The university has not elaborated further on Title IX’s role in the decision.

However, the lawsuit filed March 26 in federal court, alleged CBU discontinued the programs to “achieve a preferred ratio”  between its men and women’s athletic participation rate so it would directly mirror the school’s enrollment. The lawsuit alleged the school did this to align with one of the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) tests for Title IX compliance called “substantial proportionality.” 

CBU did not immediately respond to The Record’s request for comment.

DOE data showed CBU’s overall 2024 enrollment was 62% women compared to 38% men. Despite the uneven enrollment, the lawsuit said the school had provided an almost even split between available men’s and women’s roster spots in its athletics programs. But with the discontinuance of the 69 male athlete roster spots, the opportunity for participation was more in line with the school’s overall student enrollment. 

Caleb Trotter, a senior attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, the firm representing the athletes, told The Record he believed this act of singling out the three men’s teams to comply with the sex-based quota was prohibited by Title IX policies. 

“When we look at that [U.S.] Department of Education data, it really shows crystal clear that that’s what they’re doing,” Trotter said. “The broader precedent we [aim to] set here is definitively establishing that Title IX does not allow schools to play numbers games like this.”

Trotter said the firm planned to submit a preliminary injunction this week asking the court to temporarily halt CBU’s move to cut the programs while the lawsuit moved through the court. Ultimately, the suit requested that the court order the university to reinstate the men’s wrestling team if a judge ruled in favor of the wrestlers. 

Shiwali Patel, the senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, previously told The Record that there were two other methods, on top of substantial proportionality, universities could use to meet the participation requirement. They included demonstrating a record of increasing opportunities for the underrepresented sex or proving that the interests of the underrepresented sex were fully met, even if there wasn’t an even split of teams or athletes. 

However, Trotter said he believed that most schools, like CBU, choose to use substantial proportionality, rather than the other two, because it was the easiest to comply with. The courts, he added, have also “mostly endorsed” this proportional participation rate policy which is why he said it needed to be repealed.

Earlier this month, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a petition with the DOE on behalf of the three cut CBU teams asking that the policy be repealed.

“We think it serves as a really good one-two punch, to hopefully get the Department of Education to clarify that, ‘Yes, that is a wrong way to comply with the law,’” Trotter said. “Then with the lawsuit, push the courts to say so as well.”