Inside the fallout of the SJSU volleyball scandal: ‘This is an obvious problem’ - Fox News

Former San Jose State University co-captain Brooke Slusser claims she shared beds with a trans teammate, not knowing the athlete's birth sex, when the two lived in the same apartment. (Fox News Digital / Jackson Thompson)

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?

The Blaire Fleming files

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.

WHO IS BLAIRE FLEMING? SJSU VOLLEYBALL PLAYER DOMINATING FEMALE RIVALS AND ENRAGING WOMEN'S RIGHTS GROUPS

Fleming’s alleged plan to have Slusser harmed during a match

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.