Evie Parts was a student-athlete at Swarthmore College competing on the track and field team, but on February 6, 2025, she was removed from the team after the NCAA issued its new policy on transgender female athletes.
According to CBC Sports, Parts filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, Swarthmore College, and the college’s athletics department leadership, alleging that her removal from the track team was unlawful. The complaint said, “the NCAA’s ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports did not have legal grounds because it’s not a governmental organization.”
Parts’ attorney, Susie Cirilli said, “We stand by the allegations in the complaint. As stated in the complaint, the NCAA is a private organization that issued a bigoted policy. Swarthmore College, a private liberal arts school in Swarthmore, Pa., chose to follow that policy and disregard federal and state law.” Those federal and state laws include the federal Title IX statute.
Meanwhile, Swarthmore College released a statement that said the school “deeply values our transgender community members. We recognize that this is an especially difficult and painful time for members of the transgender community, including student-athletes. We worked to support Evie Parts in a time of rapidly evolving guidance, while balancing the ability for other members of the women's track team to compete in NCAA events. Given the pending litigation, we will not comment any further.”
Prior to removing Parts from the team, Swarthmore College athletics department personnel told Parts that she could compete on the men’s team or unattached. However, Parts would only receive medical treatment, coaching and uniforms if competing on the men’s team, as unattached athletes are not officially associated with any team. If Parts continued to compete in the women’s category, the coaching staff at Swarthmore would not be allowed to “coach Parts, she could not travel with the team, was not allowed to receive per diem or food and had to pay her way into meets. Parts also couldn’t wear a Swarthmore uniform.”
According to Penn Live, Parts graduated from Swarthmore in May and she did compete for the remainder of the 2024-25 season on the women's team, winning the 10,000 meters at the Bill Butler Invitational.
