Stephen F. Austin State University files motion to dismiss Title IX lawsuit

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KETK) – Stephen F. Austin State University has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that several women athletes have filed against the school for alleged Title IX violations.

The women who filed the lawsuit allege that the Nacogdoches-based university violated their Title IX rights when they decided to cut the SFA women’s beach volleyball team, women’s bowling team and the women’s and men’s golf teams.

Since the lawsuit was filed in a Lufkin federal court, SFA has appealed a court order that would force them to maintain the affected sports programs while the case is tried. SFA appealed the order to a U.S. Court of Appeals, asking for a stay in the case, but their request for a stay was rejected on Friday.

On Thursday, SFA filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit altogether, claiming that the lawsuit is “devoid of facts” that could show it discriminated against the athletes on the basis of sex.

Their motion to dismiss the lawsuit argues that the lawsuit only alleges that SFA was non-compliant with a 1979 Department of Health, Education and Welfare interpretation of Title IX, which lays out a three-part test to determine if Title IX has been violated.

“At most, Plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges SFA’s non-compliance with the 1979 Policy Interpretation,” SFA’s appeal said. “For Plaintiffs to base their claim entirely on this three-part test, this Court first must be permitted to defer to the 1979 Policy Interpretation. For the reasons below, it cannot.”

The appeal then explains that the United States Supreme Court recently clarified when courts should and should not defer to agency interpretations.

“Under Kisor, deference is only appropriate if 1) the regulation is ambiguous; 2) if the regulation is ambiguous, the agency’s interpretation must be reasonable; and 3) if the regulation is ambiguous and the interpretation is reasonable, the court must make an independent inquiry into whether the interpretation entitles it to controlling weight,” SFA’s appeal said. “In this case, neither the statute nor the implementing regulation is ambiguous.”

SFA claims that courts have only given deference to the 1979 interpretation of Title IX because of the so-called “Chevron doctrine”, which was also recently overturned by the Supreme Court.

The appeal then asks that the court determine whether or not SFA violated Title IX with its own independent judgment. SFA then claims that the facts alleged in the lawsuit do not apply to the upcoming school year, meaning that the lawsuit fails to make a claim.

“Although Plaintiffs cite statistics purporting to show historical data of SFA’s proportionality, there are no such statistics included for this current academic year. Plaintiffs seek prospective
injunctive relief. Thus, any allegations involving participation levels of student-athletes at SFA necessarily must focus on the current 2025-2026 academic year,” SFA’s appeal claims. “Plaintiffs do not allege sufficient facts to plausibly allege a claim based on outdated participation figures.”

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