Inside the fallout of the SJSU volleyball scandal: ‘This is an obvious problem’
EXCLUSIVE: Employees across the entire California State University System (CSU) came back from lunch to an email on March 6, announcing that their employer was suing President Donald Trump's Department of Education.
It was happening because San Jose State University (SJSU) had a transgender volleyball player on its women’s team for three years, allegedly didn’t tell multiple female teammates that the player was male, and then refused to accept the U.S. Department of Education findings that determined the school violated Title IX.
At least one employee was puzzled, and another was furious.
"Why are men playing on the women’s team[?] This is an obvious problem," an employee of San Francisco State University wrote back to CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia in an email obtained by Fox News Digital via a public records request to CSU.
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An employee of California State University, Northridge wrote back that same day to Garcia, "Mildred, I’d like to see you defend this ridiculous stance when a female takes a volleyball hit to the face from a man and he breaks her nose. There should be NO biological men competing against biological women in any university sport. This is not ‘inclusivity.’"
Most CSU employees who wrote back were supportive of the lawsuit.
But the school was already dealing with one lawsuit from former players over the issue.
SJSU’s Risk Manager Karen Vogler advised weeks earlier in an email to a finance colleague that Education Department's findings could open the school up to increased litigation.
"It doesn't appear that SJSU will face any fines or monetary penalties as a result of the U.S. Department of Education's investigation. However, claims/litigation may increase given their findings that the Title IX violation goes back to 2022," Vogler wrote in an email on Jan. 28 — the day the Education Department announced that it determined SJSU violated Title IX.
Now, the Education Department and CSU are in an ongoing standoff. Secretary Linda McMahon repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from the school since the school had expressed refusal to resolve the alleged Title IX violation since early March.
SJSU is taking an unprecedented approach for a university to challenge Trump’s efforts to "Save Women’s Sports." The Education Department offered SJSU the chance to resolve the violation without any financial penalty, which the University of Pennsylvania opted to do last July over its scandal involving trans swimmer Lia Thomas.
So why has the SJSU investigation caused such a conflict?
Fox News Digital obtained the Education Department's written findings of its Title IX investigation into SJSU in 2025 and 2026. The findings were provided by SJSU in response to a public records request.
Most individuals referenced in the findings are identified only by anonymous titles. However, the findings refer to these individuals in circumstances that Fox News Digital has reported on in the past, and based on previous reporting, Fox News Digital reasonably believes those individuals to be SJSU volleyball head coach Todd Kress (Coach 2), former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose (Coach 3), former player Blaire Fleming (Student 1), who is transgender, former player Brooke Slusser (Student 3), who leads a lawsuit against SJSU over the experience, and former SJSU volleyball head coach Trent Kersten (Coach 1).
Other SJSU players and staff are also identified by anonymous titles, but Fox News Digital is not identifying them by name.
The scandal reached a boiling point during the 2024 season when the Mountain West Conference had to step in with a misconduct investigation of Fleming after Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint. The complaint alleged Fleming conspired with an opposing player to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match, and handed over team scouting reports to the opponent.
The findings included a reference to an email sent by Kress, appearing to reference the allegations against Fleming of planning to harm Slusser.
"I received a report from one of my student-athletes yesterday of some behavior initiated by [Student 1] that could be deemed as retaliation toward [Student 3]. This behavior occurred in Colorado on Wednesday October 2 while we were there for our match vs Colorado State," The email, dated Oct. 5, 2024, read, per the findings.
The Education Department's findings went on to state that it was "undisputed" that "there was a plan discussed to injure Student 3."
"It is disputed whether Students 1 and 9 actually followed through with the plan to injure Student 3, or whether the discussion was meant as a joke. What is undisputed, however, is that there was a plan discussed to injure Student 3, and that plan to injure Student 3 was discussed by Student 1 and Student 9 in the presence of two other San José State University teammates," the findings state.
In fall 2024, the Mountain West hired the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher (WFG) to investigate the allegations, and the probe was led by former Jan. 6 Council lead investigator Tim Heaphy, Fox News Digital previously reported. The conference later announced the investigation concluded without finding sufficient evidence to assign discipline. Heaphy is no longer employed by WFG.
The Education Department's findings alleged the conference refused to hand over the evidence from that original misconduct investigation.
"OCR (The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights) asked the University to request a copy of the Mountain West Conference investigation file for OCR to review. The University requested the Mountain West Conference provide a copy of the investigative file to the University to share with OCR, and the Mountain West Conference refused, citing to attorney-client privilege," the findings state.
The Mountain West previously declined Fox News Digital’s request to review the findings of its investigation into the allegations.
The Education Department also alleged that SJSU itself did not open its own formal investigation into the allegations, "because of the head coach’s opinion of the game footage, Student 1’s assertion that it was a joke, and the findings of the Mountain West Conference investigation, which the University acknowledges it never received a copy of."
The Education Department's findings included a section with the subhead "Discord, Division, and an Effort to Silence Dissent."
The section alleged a sudden decision to assign a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) administrator to be with the team at all times after the scandal went public.
"[The DEI administrator] stated that prior to April 2024, she had no experience with the women’s volleyball team. She was brought in to ‘help deal with the team.’ She began attending practices and traveled with the team. She stated her ‘job is to make sure DEI is part of athletic programming at the University,’" the findings state.
The findings alleged a team meeting where players were allegedly told what they were not allowed to say with their own mouths. Fleming (Student 1) and Slusser (Student 3) are the only individuals Fox News Digital identifies in the following section:
"During the meeting, a player (Student 4) said ‘I feel like we were lied to (regarding Student 1 being male) and nobody wants to be in this... Why isn’t anyone sticking up for us?’
"The Senior Director of Media Relations stated she ‘tried to explain keeping a low temperature six weeks from the election people would love to blow this up.’
"Student 4 responded ‘I feel like we’re being silenced.’
"The Senior Director of Media Relations noted Student 3 was ‘nodding furiously at Student 4’s silencing comment.’ She also noted other women on the team made comments including: ‘I didn’t sign up for this’ and kept asking why they couldn’t talk about it since it was already out there.
"The Senior Director of Media Relations stated she then reiterated ‘again, I would ask yourself if this is your story to tell?’ She noted she ‘could see how much they were struggling.’"
The findings included notes from interviews with anonymous former SJSU volleyball players who were dealing with the controversy while playing in the season.
"Student interviews also indicate a lack of trust between many of the women on the team and Coach 2 and the administration. Student 7 stated "[Coach 2] cared more about [Student 1’s] wellbeing than the rest of the team." Student 7 felt Coach 2 was unfair with the way he favored Student 1," the findings stated.
"Student 10 stated after it was revealed to the team that Student 1 is male, Coach 2 expressed his belief that anyone who spoke up was attacking Student 1. Coach 2 told the team that the ‘hate’ affects him too as part of the LGBT community. Student 10 felt Coach 2 treated Student 1 with favoritism…"
The findings went so far as to state, "To silence dissent, ‘scare tactics’ were used. The women on the team were told they needed to be careful of what they said because they all signed a contract and could lose their scholarships. That threat made several members of the team afraid to speak out. Student 10 said that at one point, Coach 2 told the team to be careful regarding how they act with regard to Student 1."
The findings outlined the alleged recruitment of a transgender volleyball player in 2022. Kersten recruited Fleming that year.
"Internal email communications provided by the University indicate the head women’s volleyball coach contacted the Director of the San José State University PRIDE Center & Gender Equity Center to discuss recruiting a male volleyball player (Student 1) for the San José State University women’s indoor volleyball team. Additional communications indicate Coach 1 stated that Student 1 texted him wanting to commit," the findings state.
The findings went on to state that the coach believed to be Kersten wrote in emails regarding the recruitment that the male player was "good enough to make us better," and a dilemma on whether to tell the rest of the players.
"The internal communications also indicated a concern regarding whether or not Coach 1 should inform the women on the San José State University women’s indoor volleyball team that a male player would be joining the team. Coach 1 stated he wanted to ask the women on the team their thoughts after they found out Student 1 was joining the team, but he did not want to relinquish decision making power to the women on the team regarding whether a male player would be allowed to join the team," the findings state.
Kress and Batie-Smoose joined the SJSU staff in 2023, after Kersten departed the program for a different job, but left Fleming on the roster with two more years of eligibility.
The findings outlined alleged interactions between Kress and Batie-Smoose regarding the handling of Fleming.
"Coach 3 states she was specifically instructed by Coach 2 and the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Wellness and Leadership Development to not tell anyone either on the team or off the team that Student 1 is male. Coach 3 states she was also told ‘anyone who disagrees with [Student 1] being on the women’s volleyball team needs to get therapy and needs to leave SJSU,’" the findings state.
SJSU and CSU began to prepare their response as soon as they found out about the Education Department's determination of Title IX violation.
A Fox News Digital inquiry to SJSU was forwarded to top-level administrators at CSU more than an hour before Fox News Digital broke the story about the Education Department's findings on Jan. 28.
"Here we go. I will gather the troops," CSU Interim Executive Vice Chancellor Dawn Theodora wrote to SJSU Chief of Staff Shawn Wallen that day.
A month and a few days passed with no resolution between SJSU and ED.
Then, the lawsuit against SJSU and CSU led by Slusser and 10 other Mountain West players survived a legal hurdle in the first week of March. Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs' claims against the Mountain West Conference, but did not dismiss claims of Title IX violations against CSU.
Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those claims to after the decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v. West Virginia case in the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports and the Title IX implications, which is expected to come in June.
Just a few days later on March 6, CSU and SJSU’s announcement of the lawsuit against the Education Department was made to employees. A large portion of SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson’s email was reserved for a message of support to the LGBTQ community.
A California State University, Bakersfield employee spoke out to Garcia in an email that day.
"I want to express my disagreement in clear but respectful terms. While I understand the legal arguments presented, I believe the broader premise of the CSU’s stance risks undermining the integrity and fairness of women’s sports. Many of us are deeply concerned about how these decisions — and the messaging around them — impact female athletes who rely on the protections that Title IX was originally created to ensure," he wrote.
An SJSU employee sent an email echoing similar concerns SJSU Vice President for University Advancement Judy Nagai, that was later flagged to other administrators. SJSU redacted the name of the employee in the public records provided.
"It’s worth noting that the university’s communications don’t directly address concerns about fairness and privacy for women," the email wrote. "It’s easy to see how the messaging might come across as ambiguous or even dismissive of women’s rights for some, especially given the strong emphasis on inclusivity for LGBTQ students."
Nagai forwarded that email to Teniente-Matson and other administrators with a message that included, "[redacted] replied with a lengthy response below. He will likely attend the alumni board meeting."
Nagai later sent out a mass email to a list of undisclosed recipients, advising them on how to handle any concerns about the lawsuit.
"If you receive any questions, comments, or concerns about this topic from alumni, volunteers, and donors, please connect with [Associate Vice President of Strategy & Campaigns Manaf Mansure] so he can track and assess an appropriate response with guidance from UMC and university leadership. This includes all forms of communication -- phone calls, emails, texts and mobile messages, and in-person conversations," Nagai wrote.
The Education Department last provided an update on the situation on March 24, when the department said it had notified SJSU that it faced "impending enforcement action" for its "refusal to comply with Title IX." The announcement declared a 10-day deadline for SJSU to comply.
But that deadline has since passed.
California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton addressed the ongoing conflict between SJSU and the Education Department in an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday.
"You’ve got the far-left ideologues in California wasting public money, fighting against common sense. It’s completely ridiculous, we’re done with this," Hilton said when asked about the lawsuit.
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