FEATURED
Key Takeaways
- San Jose State University is suing the federal government over a Title IX ruling that found it violated regulations by allowing a trans-identifying male player to participate on its women's volleyball team, prompting claims of unfairness and safety concerns from female players.
- The U.S. Department of Education ordered SJSU to apologize to affected female athletes, restore awards, and implement changes to comply with Title IX, but SJSU is contesting these demands, arguing that the findings are unfounded.
- SJSU's leadership asserts it has acted lawfully and is dedicated to fostering an 'inclusive' environment, though critics accuse it of neglecting the well-being of female athletes in their policies.
San Jose State University announced it is suing the federal government over a Title IX investigation that found the school discriminated against female athletes by allowing a male to compete on its women’s volleyball team.
From 2022 to 2024, SJSU allowed Blaire Fleming (pictured), a biological male, to play on its women’s volleyball team. Female players complained it was unfair and unsafe.
In 2026, the U.S. Department of Education ruled that SJSU violated Title IX and must change its policy or risk losing federal funding, but the school is pushing back.
In a recent announcement to the university community, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson stated the school and the California State University System filed a lawsuit because they believe the Office of Civil Rights’ “findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law.”
The school aims “to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the University, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” she wrote.
Marshi Smith, cofounder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, told The College Fix she “was shocked at the audacity … but not surprised” by the school’s decision.
“It was unsurprising to see that they’re not going to agree to what I feel is literally the bare minimum,” she said.
That bare minimum includes the federal government’s demand that the school apologize to all the women impacted by Fleming. The Trump administration is also demanding that SJSU restore any awards that were affected, stop rostering or offering scholarships to men in women’s sports, and provide strictly sex-based facilities.
“That is bare minimum, not enough,” Smith said, calling for the government to impose a harsher punishment on the school.
“If the university and the California state system and in our opinion, the conference and even the NCAA are not penalized for these crimes, then who’s to say that they’re not going to do this in the future, whether that’s this year, next year, five years from now?” she said.
“The good thing about any legal fight is that in the end, the outcome carries weight and it matters,” Smith said.
She added that the university’s current policies are “promoting deception.”
They send the message that “if you can deceive women well enough, then you will be rewarded in the biggest possible way,” she said.
For example, Fleming’s roommate, Brooke Slusser, said that at first, she had no idea her roommate and teammate was a biological man, according to Fox News.
Smith told The Fix that the National Collegiate Athletic Association and CSU “are literally promoting this at this point,” and the “lies are being rewarded.”
Men can share beds with women on team trips, use women’s showers, and room together in dorms. Women do not act the same around men as they do around other women, Smith said.
Reached for comment, SJSU sent The Fix its public statement from President Teniente-Matson, in which she doubled down on the school’s support for LGBTQ individuals.
“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years remains unwavering,” the statement reads.
Teniente-Matson also stated that the school values its “LGBTQ community members” and is “dedicated to fostering an inclusive, supportive environment that encourages full participation in all aspects of university life without fear of harm or exclusion.”
The CSU System issued a statement saying it would not stand for the government’s “unlawful attempt to retroactively punish” SJSU. It claims SJSU complied with the law and the NCAA rules.
“The CSU remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for all students, faculty, and staff—including members of our LGBTQ+ community,” the statement reads.
Smith criticized the president’s statement for failing to address or promise safety to the female athletes affected by the policy.
“She doesn’t mention women even once in the letter. What she does make sure to do is adamantly proclaim support for the one male player and the LGBTQ group that he represents with no mention or regard for the traumatic harms that were inflicted on the women in the conference,” she said.
The fact that the schools are suing the government is indicative of “the arrogance on their side and how devoted they are to putting men on women’s teams.”
“It’s CSU, it’s the schools, it’s the NCAA, the Mountain West – the adults in charge who are responsible to care for women who are absolutely failing them left and right,” she said.
