Sonoma State University coaches organize legal challenges to proposed sports cut

SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY coaches and sports supporters have filed a federal civil rights complaint against the university and are threatening further legal action after the campus announced plans to pull the plug on all intercollegiate athletics programs. The university contends that the sports elimination and several other severe cuts are needed to fill a nearly $24 million budget deficit following a decade-long slide in enrollment.

Benjamin Ziemer, an assistant men’s soccer coach at Sonoma State and spokesperson for a group called Save Seawolves Athletics, said the group has filed a federal civil rights complaint arguing that Sonoma State’s plan to end the school’s NCAA Division II athletics program will impact minority students disproportionately and cause other harms. Ziemer confirmed that Sonoma State coaches are part of an effort to organize student-athletes in a class action lawsuit against the university.