Trump admin responds after SJSU sues to challenge Title IX investigation into transgender volleyball scandal

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon responded to San Jose State University (SJSU) and the California State University (CSU) strategy aft the institutions sued the national authorities to situation the findings of a national Title IX investigation. 

SJSU and CSU announced their suit Friday aft the Department of Education determined SJSU violated Title IX successful its handling of a transgender volleyball subordinate from 2022-24. 

Now, McMahon is giving the institutions a deadline of 10 days to travel to an statement oregon hazard national backing cuts and a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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"Protecting women’s sports is nonnegotiable. After we recovered SJSU successful usurpation of Title IX, they refused to negociate a resolution. SJSU, you person 10 days to cease your discriminatory practices," McMahon wrote connected X Wednesday.

McMahon's station included a missive sent to SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson from ED's Office of Civil Rights (OCR). 

"Based connected the recipient’s proactive refusal to voluntarily negociate solution of OCR’s concerns, OCR has determined that a voluntary statement volition not beryllium reached and we are astatine impasse. OCR volition contented a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action successful 10 calendar days if a solution statement is not reached wrong that 10-day period," the missive said. 

"Enforcement enactment whitethorn see the initiation of an administrative process acceptable distant successful 20 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq.; 34 C.F.R. Parts 100, 101, 106; and 20 U.S.C. § 1234, et seq. to suspend, terminate, oregon garbage to assistance oregon to proceed Federal backing — oregon different means authorized by law, including referral to the Department of Justice. This missive does not represent last bureau action."

Fox News Digital has reached retired to SJSU and CSU for a response. 

Teniente-Matson antecedently announced that the assemblage would not hold to the Education Department's projected solution agreement. 

"Because we judge OCR’s findings aren’t grounded successful the facts oregon the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a suit contiguous against the national authorities to situation those findings and forestall the national authorities from taking punitive enactment against the university, including the imaginable withholding of captious national funding," Teniente-Matson said Friday.

"This is not a measurement we instrumentality lightly. However, we person a work to support the integrity of our instauration and the regularisation of law, portion ensuring that each subordinate of our assemblage is treated reasonably and successful accordance with the law. Our presumption is simple: We person followed the instrumentality and cannot beryllium punished for doing so."

'HORRIBLE' MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL

Teniente-Matson affirmed the university's committedness to defending the LGBTQ assemblage successful the announcement.

"Our enactment for the LGBTQ members of our community, who person experienced threats and harms implicit the past respective years, remains unwavering. We cognize the attraction the assemblage has received astir this contented and the investigative process that followed person been unsettling for galore successful our community," she said. "We’ve heard the fearfulness and anxiousness that it has created and admit that waiting for the university’s effect has been hard astatine a clip already filled with uncertainty." 

The assemblage and its volleyball programme was thrust into the nationalist spotlight successful 2024 aft it was revealed the squad rostered trans jock Blaire Fleming since 2022. Former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a suit and led her own, alleging she was ne'er told Fleming was a biologic antheral erstwhile she joined the squad and shared bedrooms and changing spaces with Fleming without that knowledge.

Among the department's findings, it determined that a pistillate jock discovered that the trans pupil allegedly conspired to person a subordinate of an opposing squad spike her successful the look during a match. The section claims "SJSU did not analyse the conspiracy, but aboriginal subjected the pistillate jock to a Title IX ailment for ‘misgendering' the antheral jock successful online videos and interviews."

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Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans telephone a play during the archetypal acceptable against the Air Force Falcons astatine Falcon Court astatine East Gym connected Oct. 19, 2024, successful Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

Slusser alleged successful her November 2024 suit against the Mountain West that she and erstwhile adjunct manager Melissa Batie-Smoose were made alert of a gathering betwixt Fleming and a Colorado State women's volleyball subordinate connected Oct. 2, 2024, during which Fleming discussed a program with Jones to person Slusser spiked successful the look during a lucifer the pursuing night.

Slusser has since go a fig of viral contention aft an interrogation with Fox News Digital successful which she revealed what it was similar surviving with Fleming successful the aforesaid apartment. 

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