The Department of Education has found San Jose State University in violation of Title IX for allowing a transgender-identifying biological male athlete to compete on the women’s volleyball team during the fall 2024 season.
On Wednesday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the public California university “caused significant harm to female athletes” with its transgender student-athlete policy and “retaliated” against the female volleyball players who were vocal about what they saw as unfair treatment.
McMahon promised to hold San Jose State “accountable” for violating the sex-based discrimination law.
The announcement marks the end of a nearly yearlong investigation into the university after assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against her employer.
“SJSU caused significant harm to female athletes by allowing a male to compete on the women’s volleyball team—creating unfairness in competition, compromising safety, and denying women equal opportunities in athletics, including scholarships and playing time,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. “Even worse, when female athletes spoke out, SJSU retaliated—ignoring sex-discrimination claims while subjecting one female SJSU athlete to a Title IX complaint for allegedly ‘misgendering’ the male athlete competing on a women’s team. This is unacceptable.”
Former co-captain Brooke Slusser was the one who spoke out against the university for letting biological male Blaire Fleming participate on the all-female volleyball team. She joined many lawsuits over the issue. Slusser alleged she was forced to share locker rooms and bedrooms with Fleming during the 2023 season before she discovered her teammate was a biological male.
Fleming’s inclusion on the volleyball team was widely reported in 2024. That season ended with the team losing the Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball championship to Colorado State University. San Jose State finished the season with a 14-7 record after the championship loss.
Critics suspected the team made it that far because Fleming had biological advantages against each opposing team’s players. The controversy led to the start of the Trump administration’s investigation last February.
“We will not relent until SJSU is held to account for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities,” Richey added.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is offering a proposed resolution agreement that would allow San Jose State to resolve its Title IX violations voluntarily.
NEW YORK SCHOOL VIOLATED LAW WITH NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOT CHANGE, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SAYS
The recommended actions include a public statement that the university will adopt biological definitions of “male” and “female,” the separation of sports and intimate facilities based on biological sex, the restoration of athletic records and titles that biological males won over female athletes, and a personal apology to each female athlete who was wronged by the transgender policy.
San Jose State has 10 days to agree to the Trump administration’s terms.
