Whittier College (“Whittier) has agreed to reinstate its women’s lacrosse team, have an independent Title IX expert conduct a gender equity review, and provide women with equal opportunities to participate in varsity sports to avoid a threatened Title IX sex discrimination class action. The school had announced it was eliminating the team on July 16, 2026. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination at all educational institution receiving federal funds.
“When Whittier College announced it was eliminating the women’s lacrosse team, my teammates and I knew it was wrong, violated Title IX, and we had to fight back,” said women’s lacrosse team member and sophomore Briana Gutierrez. “We are proud the school has agreed to do the right thing, continue our team, and provide women with equal opportunities to participate in varsity athletics. We hope this provides a great example for women athletes and colleges nationwide.”
The other women’s lacrosse team members who successfully fought for their rights are Dianely Briceno, Jillian Gurrola, Kenzie Kimmel, Opal Ouzts, and Zion Santos.
“This is a huge victory for the women lacrosse players, all of the women and men at Whittier College, and everyone opposed to sex discrimination in sports,” said Arthur Bryant of Arthur Bryant Law, P.C., in Oakland, CA, lead counsel for the women. “When Whittier announced it was cutting women’s lacrosse, it was already depriving women of nearly 100 opportunities to participate, and had just decided to bring back men’s football—which would have made disparity even greater. Now, it will provide the equal opportunities Title IX requires.”
Eric Grover of Keller Grover LLP in San Francisco, CA, co-counsel for the women, added, “These women athletes fought for their team and the gender equity Title IX requires—and they won. They deserve our praise. So does Whittier College, for reversing its decision to eliminate the team and committing to comply with Title IX.”
Robert Spencer of Keller Grover LLP is also co-counsel for the women athletes.
The threatened lawsuit stemmed from CLU’s announcement on July 16, 2026, that it was immediately eliminating the women’s lacrosse team, when the school was already offering male athletes more opportunities to participate in varsity sports.
On August 17, 2026, Bryant wrote a letter to Whittier President Kristine E Dillon on behalf of women’s lacrosse team members and notified her that the team’s elimination violated Title IX. The law prohibits universities from eliminating women’s teams for which interest, ability, and competition are available unless “intercollegiate level participation opportunities for male and female students are provided in numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.” Whittier failed this test, Bryant’s letter said
According to the most recent publicly available Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (“EADA”) data that Whittier submitted and verified to the U.S. Department of Education as accurate, the school had a total undergraduate population of 745 in 2024-25: 424 women and 321 men. So, undergraduate enrollment was 56.9% women. The school’s intercollegiate athletic teams had 306 athletes: 143 women and 163 men. There were only 46.7% women—creating a gap of 10.2% between the women’s undergraduate enrollment rate and their intercollegiate athletic participation rate. Whittier needed to addathletic opportunities for women.
Instead of adding women’s opportunities, Whittier just announced that it was eliminating the women’s lacrosse team, which it reported as including 16 women in 2024-25. As a result, the school’s athletic participation numbers and rates for women would decrease when they need to increase. After the cuts, based on the most recent publicly available numbers, Whittier would need to add approximately 93 opportunities for women to reach gender equity under Title IX. Bryant’s letter noted that Whittier had never provided women with equal opportunities to participate and was now bringing back men’s football.
The letter said he and his co-counsel would file a class action lawsuit in federal court against Whittier for depriving women athletes and potential athletes of equal opportunities to participate unless the school agreed to reinstate the team, hired a gender equity specialist they approved of, and made sure it complied with Title IX. The settlement agreement, announced today, avoids the need for the suit.
Under the agreement, CLU will immediately reinstate its women’s lacrosse team, hire an agreed gender equity specialist to conduct a gender equity review, and, to the extent necessary, develop and implement a gender equity plan to ensure that Whittier is providing equal varsity athletic opportunities to women and men in compliance with Title IX no later than the 2028-2029 academic year and beyond.
This is the second college in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the last three months to agree to reinstate its women’s lacrosse team and comply with Title IX to avoid a class action on the team members’ behalf by Arthur Bryant Law, P.C., and Keller Grover LLP. On July 6, 2026, California Lutheran University entered into a similar agreement.
Last year, the law firms and their co-counsel won a preliminary injunction requiring Concordia University Irvine to preserve and continue the women’s tennis and swimming & diving teams it had announced it was eliminating—and all other women’s teams at the school—while the class action they had filed for the female athletes on those teams proceeded.