Amid controversy over transgender Blair Fleming's roster status, current and former San Jose State women's volleyball players claim Title IX and First Amendment violations against Mountain West and Commissioner Gloria Nevarez is participating in a lawsuit brought by 12 people. per out kick.
The lawsuit also includes Spartans senior Brooke Slusser, suspended assistant coach Melissa Batty-Smooth, and players from four other Mountain West schools who withdrew from the game against San Jose State. There is.
The complaint, published by Outkick, alleges that the Mountain West enacted the transgender participation policy to “chill and suppress the free speech rights of female athletes.”
It also seeks to ban Fleming and San Jose State from participating in the conference tournament.
The Independent Council on Women's Sports is reportedly funding the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
“The NCAA, the Mountain West Conference, and college athletic directors across the country are disqualifying women,” Bill Bock, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told Outkick.
“The administrators don't have the courage to do the job, so we have to ask the federal courts to do the job for them.”
San Jose State has been embroiled in controversy this season due to Fleming's spot on the roster.
Fleming, a redshirt senior from Virginia, is in his third season at San Jose State after transferring from Coastal Carolina.
Opposing teams have had their games forfeited, and the school's website lists Boise State (Sept. 28), Wyoming State (Oct. 5, Nov. 14) and Utah State (October 23). , featuring a “no contest” victory over Nevada State University (October 26). ).
The lawsuit seeks emergency injunctive relief before the Mountain West Tournament begins on Nov. 27.
The conference is asking both the conference and San Jose State to “withhold” Fleming's permission to play in the tournament and strip San Jose State of its berth.
The lawsuit also seeks revocation of the Mountain West's loss to the team due to the forfeiture. If those forfeits were removed, the conference tournament would look different.
San Jose State is in second place in the conference with 11 wins and 5 losses.
The lawsuit alleges the Mountain West created the transgender participation policy in response to “growing controversy” on Sept. 27, the day before Boise State was forfeited to San Jose State.
“Rather, with respect to information and belief, Commissioner Nevarez appears to believe that women's volleyball players and teams may exercise their constitutional rights to protest and boycott, but this growing controversy has prompted the Commissioner and his staff to… It was quickly drafted and posted on the MWC website.'' It was aimed at punishing First Amendment protests in support of women's volleyball players in the MWC (Mountain West Conference). policy,” the complaint says.
The policy of Found in Appendix J of the 2024-25 HandbookSchools in the state are responsible for identifying transgender athletes and making sure they are NCAA eligible.
“The determination of whether a transgender athlete will be permitted to participate in a particular MW (Mountain West) member intercollegiate athletics is up to that individual institution, depending on the circumstances of its interaction with that individual. “Subject to discretion, state law, etc.,” the policy reads. “However, MW members may not prevent student-athletes from other MW member institutions from participating in accordance with the policies outlined herein.”
It also said that for “intraconference” games, transgender athletes who are declared eligible by the NCAA and are on their school's roster will be allowed to participate in “all” conference contests. There is.
“If a team from a MW member institution declines to compete in an intraconference contest with a team from another MW member institution that includes an eligible transgender student-athlete, the refusing team will be disqualified from the contest. State. “For purposes of conference records, standings, tie-break format, and participation in the MW Championship, the forfeited team will be assessed a loss and the opposing team will be credited with a win.”
The lawsuit also includes the following details: Batty Smooth Title IX Lawsuit In it, she claimed that Fleming and his Colorado State opponents conspired to force Fleming to “throw” the match and injure the slasher, who had been outspoken against Fleming. On October 3, Colorado State University defeated San Jose State University, 3-0.
Batty Smooth also claims that head coach Todd Kress gave Fleming “favorable treatment.”
She was suspended from the university after filing the lawsuit.
“Certain allegations of potential ethical misconduct by SJSU, Kress, and (Senior Athletics Vice President Laura) Alexander, including collusion, throwing the game, and attempting to inflict physical harm on Slasher. SJSU, Kress, and Alexander filed Title IX complaints that referred to the SJSU team and/or did not want the allegations against Fleming to be investigated, and/ or sought to punish and retaliate against Slusser for not wanting him to be protected from violence,” the complaint states. .
Slusser, who lived with Fleming, criticized the university's response and said the players had been asked not to discuss the matter publicly.
“That's definitely something I've thought about seriously. And I think the hardest thing about this whole situation is that this team really loves each other. My best friends are on this team. .” Slusser told Outkick in September.. “It just breaks my heart that we have to go through something like this, because there are so many loving and caring women on our team, and to put them all through this? Because that's completely ridiculous.
“I might only have three months left to play volleyball. I can't transfer again because I've already used the transfer. It means I'll either stay away from volleyball forever or swallow this hard pill.” So I just sucked it up and played and did what I could to help the team and protect them as much as I could.”
