Transgender runner Evie Parts sues NCAA, Swarthmore College for removal from track team

Distance runner Evie Parts has sued the NCAA and Swarthmore College as well as members of its athletic department, saying they illegally removed her from the track team because she is a transgender athlete.

Parts's lawsuit said the NCAA's ban on transgender athletes in women's sports did not have legal grounds because it's not a governmental organization and therefore does not have jurisdiction over Pennsylvania state law or the Title IX federal statute.

She was removed from the team on Feb. 6, the day the NCAA issued its new policy on transgender athletes.

Swarthmore men's and women's track coach Peter Carroll, athletic director Brad Koch and athletics officials Christina Epps-Chiazor and Valerie Gomez also were named in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, they sent Parts into "such a depressive state that she engaged in self-harm and in one moment told a friend that she wanted to kill herself."

"We stand by the allegations in the complaint," said Susie Cirilli, an attorney who along with co-counsel Spector, Gadon, Rosen and Vinci, represents Parts. "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."

Swarthmore issued a statement that it "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," the school said. "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,