NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced Wednesday that it determined that San Jose State University violated Title IX due to its handling of a transgender former volleyball player. The university now has 10 days to comply with a series of agreements or risk “imminent enforcement actions.”
The DE launched an investigation into the university last February after a highly publicized college volleyball season in which seven teams lost games to SJSU amid controversy.
Former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser joined multiple lawsuits against the NCAA, the Mountain West Conference and university representatives after alleging that she was forced to share locker rooms and dormitories with trans teammate Blaire Fleming in 2023 without being told that Fleming is a biological man.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and celebrated Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over the fact that Fleming was transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
Former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended and then not re-signed to a new contract after filing a Title IX complaint against the school for its handling of Fleming.
The ED has now determined that SJSU denied women equal educational opportunities and benefits, and that the school retaliated against female athletes who spoke out.
“SJSU caused significant harm to female athletes by allowing a man 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,” Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement provided to Pak Gazette Digital.
“Worse, when female athletes spoke out, SJSU retaliated, ignoring allegations of sex discrimination and subjecting an SJSU athlete to a Title IX complaint for allegedly ‘misgendering’ a male athlete competing on a women’s team. This is unacceptable. We will not relent until SJSU is held accountable for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities.”
Among the department’s findings, it was determined that an athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team punch her in the face during a game. ED states that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in videos and online interviews.”
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES 18 TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS AFTER SCOTUS HEARS ARGUMENTS IN EFFORTS TO PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS
Slusser alleged in her November 2024 lawsuit against Mountain West that she and Batie-Smoose learned of a meeting between Fleming and Colorado State volleyball player Malaya Jones on Oct. 2, 2024, in which Fleming discussed a plan with Jones to have Slusser nailed in the face during a match the following night.
The Mountain West Conference launched its own investigation into the allegations, but determined that insufficient evidence could be found to address disciplinary action.
However, Pak Gazette Digital reported in the summer of 2025 that Mountain West hired the same law firm to conduct that investigation that defended the conference against Slusser’s lawsuit that included those same allegations against Fleming.
The attorney assigned to lead the investigation was Timothy Heaphy of Willkie Farr & Gallagher (WFG). Heaphy previously served as senior investigative counsel to the U.S. House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Former SJSU volleyball captain Brooke Slusser with her parents Paul and Kim Slusser, with Tim Heaphy and Blaire Fleming. (Getty Images/Courtesy of Kim Slusser)
WFG later removed a web page from a press release announcing that it had successfully defended the Mountain West against a request for a preliminary injunction that would have declared Fleming ineligible to complete the 2024 season and compete in the Mountain West Tournament.
Slusser later told Pak Gazette Digital that he had a conversation with a teammate who was interviewed as part of the conference’s investigation into Fleming’s alleged scheme. Pak Gazette Digital is not revealing the identity of the teammate.
INSIDE THE SCOTUS HEARING WILL BE A INVISION POINT IN THE CULTURAL WAR OVER TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
“From what I was told, those lawyers were told exactly what one of my teammates had seen that night, about talking about the scouting report and leaving the net open. So, that should have been enough evidence. [of the alleged plan by Fleming]”Slusser told Pak Gazette Digital, adding that he wants the investigation reopened.
“People tell you this happened, and it’s not secondhand information. She sat there and listened to the conversation between Blaire and [former Colorado State volleyball player] malay [Jones]. “So to me, just from what I know, without even having to delve into this investigation, there is enough evidence, and they were told there was enough evidence.”
Pak Gazette Digital cannot independently verify that Slusser’s teammate corroborated the allegations against Fleming when speaking to investigators.
Pak Gazette Digital later interviewed SJSU athletic director Jeff Konya about Slusser’s claims, playing a video clip of Slusser reciting those accusations at Mountain West media days on July 15.
“I have no idea if he’s telling the truth or not,” Konya said of Slusser’s claims.
Konya could not confirm or deny whether any of the witnesses interviewed corroborated the allegations against Fleming.
“I have no idea,” Konya said.
Batie-Smoose has filed his own lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the California State University (CSU) system, as SJSU is one of 23 California-based schools that are part of the system. Batie-Smoose and her attorney Vernadette Broyles believe the suspension was “retaliation” for her Title IX complaint about Fleming.
Batie-Smoose said she didn’t find out Fleming was a man until she accepted the job at SJSU in February 2023, and claims she wasn’t officially told the truth about Fleming until she started asking about it, and head coach Todd Kress finally told her, a few weeks into her tenure.
Batie-Smoose alleges he was then told he couldn’t tell other players or his parents.
“Todd Kress told me in passing… because I was asking… ‘Oh, by the way, Blaire is a man,'” Batie-Smoose said, adding that she was threatened with being fired if she told other athletes or her parents.
“Both Todd Kress and the administration, Laura Alexandra, were not allowed to talk about it, let the parents know about it, or let anyone know about it.”
‘SAVING WOMEN’S SPORTS’ CULTURAL WAR TIMELINE 2025: THE YEAR THAT CHANGED THE TIDE
Meanwhile, the situation left a lingering physical and mental impact on Slusser. She previously told Pak Gazette Digital that the panic and stress of that period of her life caused her to develop an eating disorder, which led to severe anorexia that got so bad that she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months.
“I went from around 160 to 128 [lbs] in that semester. It’s definitely not healthy for someone my size to be that weight and I ended up missing my menstrual cycle for nine months. So it was definitely serious,” said Slusser, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall.
After the 2024 season and fall semester ended, Slusser’s parents saw the physical impact the situation had on her and demanded that she return home to Texas.
“As soon as the season ended, she came home for Christmas and we told her, ‘You’re not coming back,'” her father, Paul Slusser, told Pak Gazette Digital. She told her daughter, “‘You can go get your things next summer when your lease is up and stay here.'”
Once winter break ended and what was supposed to be her last semester began, Brooke attempted to complete her courses online.
Her parents said she started taking online classes, but dropped out soon after. like a Division I Scholarship AthleteDropping out of classes caused him to lose his scholarship and his family had to pay out of pocket for the entire semester’s tuition and accommodation.
“We had to basically pay for his mortgage and his apartment for the rest of the semester. So it was a pretty big financial burden for us when that happened,” Paul Slusser said.
He is no longer a student at SJSU and will finish his education at another school.
Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to bring consequences to the situation.
The ED settlement terms that SJSU must comply with to avoid “imminent enforcement action” are as follows:
- Issue a public statement to the SJSU community that SJSU will adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” and recognize that the sex of a human being (male or female) is immutable;
- Specify that SJSU will follow Title IX by separating athletic and intimate facilities based on biological sex;
- State that SJSU will not delegate its obligation to comply with Title IX to any outside association or entity and will not contract with any entity that discriminates on the basis of sex;
- Restore to individual athletes all individual athletic records and titles that were misappropriated by male athletes competing in women’s categories, and issue a personalized letter of apology on behalf of SJSU to each athlete for allowing their participation in athletics to be marred by sexual discrimination; and
- Send a personalized apology to every woman who played in SJSU women’s indoor volleyball (2022-2024), 2023 beach volleyball, and any woman on a team that lost instead of competing against SJSU while a student was on the roster, expressing your sincere regret for putting female athletes in that position.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
In 2025, ED settled with the University of Pennsylvania over its handling of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, and with Wagner College over its handling of transgender fencer Redmond Sullivan. However, it was unable to reach agreements with state agencies in Maine and California, resulting in lawsuits from the Department.
SJSU’s response will determine the next chapter in the president’s mission to “save women’s sports.”
