Court rules against San Diego State in landmark Title IX case

San Diego State must pay a group of former female athletes at the university a total of $300,000 for violating federal law, U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson ruled.

The ex-athletes and the school agreed to an out-of-court settlement in the case last year, which focused on whether San Diego State violated Title IX anti-discrimination laws. Robinson signed off on the agreement on Monday in San Diego.

San Diego State also agreed to pay $1.3 million in legal fees to the attorneys who saw the case through the court system for the plaintffs.

All of the women were scholar-athletes with the Aztecs in a time span from 2018 moving forward.

The women filed the lawsuit in 2022, accusing the school of giving more money to the male athletes. San Diego State officials declined that was true nd decided to fight it.

"SDSU intentionally chose not to fund women's sports for the full amount of aid permitted by the NCAA's rules," read the lawsuit. "It likewise intentionally chose not to permit the coaches of women's teams to award the full amount of aid permitted by the NCAA's rules. Those decisions harmed all Plaintiffs. The same dollar limits were not placed on many of SDSU's men's teams, including, for example, the men's football team."

In all, each of the 798 women who took part in the class-action lawsuit will receive a sum of money that won't be life-changing by any means; each share is about $375. But Arthur Bryant, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said this case was about much more than money.

"These women have made history," Bryant told USA Today on Monday. "This is the first case ever in which a school is going to pay damages to women athletes for depriving them of equal athletic financial aid. It is definitely not going to be the last. And SDSU is going to comply with Title IX."

The university also said it would provide equipment and off-field services to women that equal what the men get. In this case, San Diego State agreed to put replacement turf of the field used by women's lacrosse and to provide "professional photography services and publicity equitably to men's and women's teams."

San Diego State has 30 days to pay the money due.

--Field Level Media