Have fun defending yourself against the UC. The UC is a law firm that sometimes dabbles in education.

These athletes need to have a conversation with the family that donated 120 million to the vet school, perhaps funding the equestrian team could be a condition of this incredible gift.

You are so right about the UC system. They have invested 100's of millions of dollars in the last few decades with retainer fees to firms to make sure that the best firms in CA do NOT go against them. I am sure that the handlers for the Vet school donation have already locked up the donation before going public. Rocko having an outside firm to look at the UCD's department is all the defense that the school needs to avoid a loss in court.

I believe they claim to be self funded.

[quote]Student athletes sue UC Davis after equestrian team demoted to club level[/quote]

The Abridged version:

Four current and prospective UC Davis equestrian student athletes filed a lawsuit against the school after it decided to discontinue the Division I program.

The suit alleges that officials knowingly continued recruitment and fundraising even as they planned to end the program.

All of the plaintiffs said they would have considered going elsewhere if they knew the team was going to be dissolved.

Whole article here: https://www.abridged.org/news/uc-davis-equestrian-lawsuit/

https://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/uc-davis-cut-equestrian-22317870.php

This was in the SFGate yesterday:

As UC Davis axes equestrian team, parents point to suspicious circumstances

This is old inaccurate information. A federal court has ruled that it has no jurisdiction over the case due to the personal injury aspect of the plaintiffs case. Case was dismissed a month or so ago. Simply bad lawyering which is hard to believe since this whole situation is fueled by the very wealthy parents of the players who can afford the best legal team. So they will refile in state court, probably Yolo county, unless they are willing to forego the personal injury cases, which are, of course, mental distress damages. So on we go to state court in yolo county which will be a much higher bar than the federal court in Sacramento. How the Chronicle missed all of this? Beats me

It looks like this isn't going to go away anytime soon.

Sorry equestrian folks, you have it all wrong and frankly appear ignorant of the facts. UC Davis has one of the most robust roster of women sports in the country. Equestrian athletics was not removed for a men’s sport it was replaced by another women’s sport. Each of the equestrian athletes were given their scholarship benefits until they graduated. They can still keep their horses at UCD. Ride with the club team. So this action did not move the title IX needle one notch against the women or the program. Did UC Davis ever tell the athletes that their program would never be terminated? I doubt that it would have happened. Where’s the evidence otherwise? This case is now morphed into a case where these poor daughters of the very wealthy want to complain of their mental distress and who are demanding monetary compensation for their situation. From someone with experience in the Yolo County court system I will say this is a case that does not have legs in front of a Yolo County jury.

Didn't they replace an expensive woman's sport with a less expensive woman's sport?

Stunt was elevated to an NCAA Championship sport earlier this year.

Equestrian is still in the NCAA "Emerging Sport" status--->40 schools must have Equestrian as a Varsity sport to be an NCAA Championship sport. Currently it's at 24...

I disagree with some of the tactics employed by the equestrian parents in their effort to reverse the decision to end the ICA-level program at UCD.

But with all due respect, let's also be honest. There's been several comments on AST similar to your characterization of "...these poor daughters of the very wealthy..." While equestrian is probably one of the most elitist sports around, many sports have become/are becoming increasingly difficult to play unless your family has money. The following is from an article today on ESPN regarding the play for pay system in US youth soccer:

"...the predominant way kids get started [in soccer] is through the increasingly capitalistic travel soccer system.

"It's a business, and one that caters to kids from the suburbs (where potential customers are) over rural areas or city centers. It all but requires parents to pay what can exceed $20,000 a year in travel, fees and training [including private coaches], in addition to investing lots of free time to drive three states away for some "elite showcase" (often to play a team from across town).

"And travel sports of all kinds are only getting bigger -- a $40 billion-plus industry, increasingly making it the playground of the upper middle class to the wealthy.

"When young players (and their ever-present parents) are paying customers, exactly how hard can you coach them? Break them down before building them up? Offer real adversity, especially the mental sort? Players can just flee to another club at season's end, if not sooner."

If you have family or neighbors (we do) whose kids are involved in youth sports - not just soccer, but baseball, basketball, swimming, volleyball, football - you know this. We've watched it within our family and within our neighborhood. And we've seen the sense of entitlement that it can produce. We've watched Little League All-Star team cater to travel ball players, even when those players are doing poorly, or haven't performed as well during the season as other players.

So I, personally would like to see an end to the comments about the elitist nature of equestrian participants. While it may be further along the spectrum, it's not really unique, and it's becoming less so all the time. Those comments also disparage UCD student athletes in equestrian who have put it the time for their sport, just as much as other UCD student athletes. They've also represented UCD pretty well in their short time as an ICA sport - 3 conference championships in its 7 seasons, 1 trip to the post season.