The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a letter to San Jose State University (SJSU) on Tuesday over Title IX sex-based discrimination violations stemming from the school’s transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming, and gave the university 10 days to comply.

The department said the university will face enforcement action, which includes referral to the U.S. Department of Justice and potential termination of its federal funding, if it does not follow federal law.

“We have provided SJSU with multiple opportunities to resolve its Title IX violations with common sense actions: separating male and female athletes based on their biological sex, keeping men out of women’s locker rooms and bathrooms, restoring rightfully-earned titles and accolades to female athletes, and apologizing to the women forced to forfeit competitions to protect themselves,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “Yet, SJSU remains obstinate, choosing a radical ideology over safety, dignity, and fairness for its own students.”

Fleming, a biological male who medically transitioned at 14, transferred to SJSU’s women’s volleyball team in 2022.

In February 2025, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights initiated an investigation into SJSU amid allegations that the university allowed a male to compete on the female volleyball team and retaliated against female students and an assistant coach who pushed back.

“President Trump’s Executive Order ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ is a promise to women and girls: this administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes,” Craig Trainor, assistant secretary for civil rights, said at the time.

On Jan. 28, 2026, the department found SJSU in violation of Title IX, saying its policies allowing males to compete in women’s sports and access female-only facilities deny women equal education opportunities and benefits.

The department required SJSU to acknowledge the sex of a human is unchangeable, separate sports based on biological sex, restore female athletes’ records and titles given to male athletes, and issue apologies to every member of SJSU’s women’s volleyball team and certain members of opposing teams.

“SJSU caused significant harm to female athletes by allowing a male 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,” Richey said.

A view of the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington on Feb. 1, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)

SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson issued a statement on March 6, announcing the university will not agree to the department’s terms, requested it rescind its findings and close the investigation, and filed a lawsuit against the federal government to challenge the department’s findings and prevent the federal government from taking action against the university, including withholding federal funding.

“We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so,” she said. “Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years remains unwavering.”

In its January findings, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found that alongside allowing a male to compete on the women’s volleyball team, SJSU instructed the coaching staff to not tell female players that Fleming was male, leading to them sharing locker rooms and hotel rooms with Fleming.

“They didn’t tell anyone. The school, the staff, they didn’t talk about it whatsoever,” Brooke Slusser, who was Fleming’s roommate and volleyball team co-captain at the time, said on EpochTV’s “Bay Area Innovators” in 2024. “They’re almost gaslighting you into thinking it’s not okay to talk about it, and it’s not okay to voice your opinion.”

It wasn’t until near the end of the 2024 season, when news of SJSU’s women’s volleyball team having a male player became public, that the school finally addressed the situation to the players—not confirming it, but advising the players to not comment on the matter, suggesting it wasn’t their story to tell, according to Slusser.

The Epoch Times reached out to SJSU for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also found the presence of a male athlete was a safety concern and provided SJSU with an unfair physical advantage.

The team finished the season with a record of 14–7 and lost in the conference final, but seven of those wins were by other teams forfeiting in protest of playing against a male.

Brooke Slusser. (The Epoch Times)

Slusser said that any man playing in women’s sports is so much stronger than any woman will ever be that it’s a danger, regardless of how good or bad they are.

In September 2024, Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA over Title IX violations, and in November 2024, joined a separate lawsuit alongside SJSU assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and other volleyball players against the Mountain West Conference, three officials at SJSU, and others.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found that days after Slusser had joined the first lawsuit, Fleming conspired to have a member of the opposing team spike Slusser in the face in an upcoming match. It added that SJSU didn’t investigate the conspiracy but subjected Slusser to a Title IX complaint for “misgendering” Fleming in videos and interviews.

According to the suit, assistant coach Batie-Smoose was suspended by the team on Nov. 2, 2024, “in retaliation for filing her own Title IX Complaint and Request for Investigation.”