A discovery hearing is scheduled in federal court Monday in a discrimination lawsuit filed by former Colorado Mesa University lacrosse coach Shanta Loecker against the school.
That suit, filed in April 2021 in U.S. District Court in Grand Junction, alleges that CMU unfairly fired Loecker based on gender and racial discrimination as part of a pattern of gender bias and stereotypes against female coaches and people of color.
“A female is expected to behave in a manner that is consistent with societal stereotypes about females,” the lawsuit reads.
“If she behaves in a stereotypical feminine manner, then she is blamed for being too soft as a coach,” the suit adds. “If she behaves in the way we expect good coaches to behave, then she is blamed for being too harsh. These double standards result in student-athlete complaints that are the direct result of gender bias.”
The lawsuit claims that Loecker’s firing in April 2020 appeared to be based on some complaints and athletes dropping from the lacrosse team, something the suit says are common in college sports.
It also claims that similar complaints are lodged by male athletes against male coaches, but such complaints often are ignored.
The university is fighting the lawsuit, but did not comment on it.
The lawsuit also says that the university is in violation of Title IX because it predominantly hires white males as coaches, including for its women sports teams. At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, the complaint alleges that of the eight women’s-only sports, six were coached by men and all were white.
Loecker, who was born in India and describes herself as South Asian, started coaching at CMU in 2018. Prior to that, she coached in Albion College in Michigan for six seasons and UCLA for three.
In 2019, she led the team to a 15-3 record and a spot in the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Despite her success at CMU, Loecker claims in her lawsuit that she often was threatened or bad-mouthed by other male coaches and received no help from her superiors in the athletic department.
“One of the first red flags Coach Loecker noticed — beyond the general lack of diversity — when she arrived at CMU was that her predecessor — also a woman — was regularly and openly spoken of in a stereotypical and negative manner — e.g., she was ‘volatile,’ ‘emotional,’ ‘loud,’ etc.,” the suit reads.
“During one of these instances, in the fall of 2018, (Co-Athletic Director Kris) Mort — the only female in the athletics department — told Coach Loecker that if she could get away with hiring only men, she would because women are ‘too emotional’ and ‘difficult,’” the suit adds. “This was a sentiment that Co-AD Mort would express more than once during Coach Loecker’s tenure at CMU.”
The lawsuit asks for reinstatement as a CMU coach, and unspecified damages for lost wages and benefits, and for compensatory damages for loss of employment, wages, emotional pay “suffering, humiliation, embarrassment, inconvenience and damage to her reputation.”
It also requests punitive damages and attorney fees and court costs.
