On April 14, 2026, Quinnipiac University announced it would demote its women’s Division I rugby team to club status following the 2025-26 academic year, while also announcing plans to revive the men’s track and field program, which had been eliminated in 2009. In response, 23 current and prospective women’s rugby players filed a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination and retaliation under Title IX (Perez et al. v. Quinnipiac University, No. 3:26-cv-00898, (D. Conn.)). The plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction, alleging that Quinnipiac’s decision is part of a “longstanding pattern of retaliatory and discriminatory conduct.”
This is not Quinnipiac’s first legal challenge over Title IX compliance. Seventeen years ago, the university’s 2009 decision to eliminate women’s volleyball led to a class-action suit, Biediger v. Quinnipiac, 728 F. Supp. 2d 62 (2010). As part of the 2013 settlement in that case, Quinnipiac entered into a consent decree requiring the retention of
