Caught in the Crossfire: Transgender Rights Battle Creates Legal Dilemma for University Athletic Officials

Sadie Schreiner, a transgender sprinter, is taking legal aim at Princeton University, filing a discrimination lawsuit after being removed from a track event minutes before the starting gun. The lawsuit not only challenges NCAA’s new regulations prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports but illustrates how school administrators can find themselves at the center of high-stakes legal battles over inclusion and civil rights.Princeton Athletic Director John Mack and Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick, Princeton’s director of track operations, were named as defendants along with the Ivy League university in the lawsuit filed this week in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating New Jersey’s laws against discrimination.“The actions of the two Princeton officials were in blatant and willful disregard of Sadie’s rights based on Sadie’s rights as a transgender woman under controlling New Jersey law thereby causing Sadie Shreiner to foreseeable emotional and physical harm,” the lawsuit said.The lawsuit comes five months after the NCAA changed its participation policy regarding transgender athletes to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth. The policy change was enacted soon after President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.According to the lawsuit, Ms. Schreiner, who transitioned in high school, signed up to run the 200-meter race at Princeton’s Larry Ellis Invitational held in May. About 15 minutes before the race began, Ms. Schreiner, who was unattached to any school or club, went to the starting area and saw that her name had been removed from the list of competitors.The lawsuit states that she was directed to Mr. Mack and Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick. Ms. Keenan-Kirpatrick allegedly told her, “I do not want to assume, but you are transgender.”“Simply stated, when Princeton University, unlawfully aided and abetted by the other individually named defendants, denied her right to run in the Larry Ellis Invitational track meet, they broke the law controlling guaranteed protections of the rights of transgender women,” the lawsuit said.The complaint seeks damages for a “humiliating, dehumanizing and dignity-stripping ordeal.”More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. School administrations must now consider the possibility of being sued for enforcing those laws.John Mack was named Princeton’s sixth athletic director in 2021. A track and field athlete at Princeton from 1996 to 2000, Mr. Mack was previously the associate athletic director at Northwestern before spending 10 years as a practicing lawyer.Ms. Keenan-Kirkpatrick, according to her LinkedIn profile, has been the director of operations for track and field and cross country at Princeton since 2023. She previously worked in an athletic or administrative capacity at Colgate, Syracuse, and her alma mater Seton Hall, where she attended law school.Mr. Mack and Ms. Keen-Kirkpatrick now find themselves caught in the legal crosshairs of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports. Republicans led by Mr. Trump say the issue is about fairness for women in sports and has withheld federal aid to schools that don’t comply.The Trump administration has filed its own series of lawsuits and investigation into state and school policies that continue to allow transgender athletes to compete with athletes assigned female at birth.Ms. Schreiner competed as a short-distance runner in high school and at Rochester Institute of Technology, an NCAA Division III school. When confronted by Princeton officials at the Larry Ellis Invitational, she offered to take physical tests and present a birth certificate and driver’s license, but was refused, according to the lawsuit.The Supreme Court may eventually have the final say. It agreed earlier this month to hear a case over state restrictions on transgender participation. The justices will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia. The cases will be argued in the fall.Last month, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania recently agreed to the Trump administration’s demands regarding transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in an attempt to restore $175 million in withheld federal funding.Ms. Schreiner said on her Instagram account that she has been excluded from multiple events in recent months, including this year’s NCAA nationals. “Now, with the NCAA banning me, with USA Track & Field banning me, with World Athletics banning me, and with colleges too scared to allow me to participate due to Trump’s executive order, there is nowhere in the country that I’m able to compete,” Schreiner said in a March Instagram video.

Caught in the Crossfire: Transgender Rights Battle Creates Legal Dilemma for University Athletic Officials

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