Utah State University wants to join the lawsuit against transgender athletes

Katie McKellar

(Utah News Dispatch) Utah State University – one of the schools that forfeited a women’s volleyball match against San José State University in protest of a transgender student-athlete on the roster – has asked a judge for permission to participate in a federal lawsuit against Mountain West Conference challenging its transgender participation policy.

State attorneys representing USU have filed motion to intervene Monday evening. The move came the same day that Utah’s top Republican state leaders released a statement urging the university to join the legal fight on behalf of the student athletes who filed the lawsuit, one of whom is a USU student and co-captain of the university’s women’s volleyball team. .

“USU requests intervention to defend and protect its own interests and those of female student-athletes in preserving women’s athletic opportunities during the MWC women’s volleyball tournament and possible invitation to the NCAA Championships,” the motion said from USU to intervene. “If the MWC tournament begins and ends without USU’s involvement and ability to assert its interests in the (preliminary) proceedings, USU’s request will largely become moot.”

According to the motion, USU’s decision to forfeit its match against SJSU came after a majority of student athletes on the university’s women’s volleyball team indicated in an anonymous survey that they did not want to play “due to fairness concerns” and that they had “strong interests had “personal and political beliefs that transgender women should not participate in women’s sports.”

“Some student-athletes indicated that competing with a transgender volleyball student-athlete was dangerous and/or were concerned for their safety,” the motion said.

The decision to forfeit resulted in a loss for USU and a win for SJSU, in line with MWC’s transgender participation policy, which was hastily adopted to punish teams that refused to play SJSU, according to the lawsuit.

“But if USU had somehow forced its team to play the game, contrary to some team members’ concerns about USU’s Title IX obligations, USU would have been at risk of violating the provisions of Title IX and to lose federal funding,” states USU’s motion to intervene. “USU has a protected interest in ensuring compliance with Title IX to maintain the continued receipt of an important source of funding to help advance USU’s mission.”

Utah’s top brass is urging USU to join the lawsuit

Earlier Monday morning, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz issued a joint statement urging USU to join the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Colorado.

“Female athletes deserve the right to a safe playing field, fair competition and equal opportunity,” the governor, Adams, R-Layton, and Schultz, R-Hooper, said in a prepared statement. “By intervening, Utah will send a clear message that these rights are non-negotiable. The NCAA, Mountain West Conference and other institutions across the country have failed to take action, undermining vital protections and putting female athletes at risk. We will continue to defend our female athletes and the integrity of our athletic programs.”

A dozen plaintiffs – including an athlete from Utah State University – filed the suit Pack of 132 pagesalleging that the Mountain West Conference’s transgender participation policy violates Title IX and the U.S. Constitution. They are ask a judge to ineligible the SJSU player, who the lawsuit says is a “biological male who identified as a transgender woman,” and block the player from an upcoming tournament set to begin Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.

Last month, Gloria Nevarez, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, told the newspaper Associated press“the student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team doesn’t play him, it’s a forfeit, which means they suffer a loss.”

Of the 11 players and one coach who have filed as plaintiffs, three are from SJSU: San José State assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, current San José State player Brooke Slusser and former San José State player Elle Patterson.

Batie-Smoose is currently suspended from the team, possibly for alleged privacy violations after she identified the transgender athlete without consent in media interviews. according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Batie-Smoose also filed a Title IX complaint, alleging that the athlete provided SJSU’s game plan to a Colorado State player prior to a game, which Colorado State won. The Chronicle reports that it has confirmed that the complaint is unsubstantiated and is expected to be resolved.

The lawsuit came after four college women’s volleyball teams — including Southern Utah University and Utah State University — forfeited their matches in a boycott against the SJSU team over fairness and safety concerns. Plaintiffs are also asking the court to vacate the victories awarded to the SJSU women’s volleyball team because of the forfeited matches and losses.

SUU was the first school to cancel a gamewhich was scheduled for September 14. Boise State University and the University of Wyoming also lost games. Last month, Utah State University published a statement confirming that it would not participate in a game scheduled for Oct. 23 and that it will “adhere to the Mountain West Conference’s policies regarding how this game is recorded.”

At the time, however, both Utah universities did not directly address the reasons for canceling the games. Statement from Southern Utah University attributes the decision to the team.

Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan – a lawmaker who has introduced several bills on transgender issues, including one restrict access to public bathrooms and one institution eligibility standards for transgender student athletes – thanked the statement from Cox, Adams and Schultz that prompted USU to join the lawsuit.

“These young women should not be alone when it comes to fair competition, safety and equal opportunity,” Birkeland said posted on X on Monday.

Plaintiffs allege USU officials discouraged players from speaking out

Utah State University did not immediately return requests for comment Monday. However, the lawsuit suggests that there could be some friction within the university over the boycott of the SJSU team.

“After Boise State announced their cancellation, the USU head women’s volleyball coach came to a film meeting and said bluntly and emphatically, ‘I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but we’re going to play San Jose State; (the player) is not that talented,” the lawsuit said.

The USU student who joined the lawsuit as plaintiff, Kaylie Ray (who is also co-captain of the university’s women’s volleyball team), said that “our coach’s statement really rubbed our team the wrong way,” according to the lawsuit. “We were shocked that we had no say in the decision, nor were we asked if we thought the fight against SJSU was fair or safe.”

Ray said after the University of Wyoming canceled their game, “we were further inspired as a team to do something.”

“Several USU team members communicated with their coach that they felt it was wrong for (the player) to play and that they felt USU should not play SJSU. However, Coach was resistant to any protest,” the lawsuit states.

Later, the players held a Zoom meeting with the USU president and athletics director, the lawsuit states, and the USU president asked the players to participate in an anonymous survey about how each player felt about playing at SJSU competition. Shortly after completing the survey, the USU women’s volleyball team learned that “they did not have to play the game against SJSU,” according to the complaint.

“My teammates and I are happy to stand up for our rights as women, but doing so requires us to make significant sacrifices,” Ray said in the complaint. “Title IX is supposed to guarantee us equal opportunity as women, but it is not being interpreted that way by the NCAA, the MWC or by SJSU.”

Ray also alleged that some USU officials discouraged her and her teammates from “speaking out about women’s rights,” according to the lawsuit, which included a photo of Ray and some of her teammates wearing “BOYcott” T-shirts, which was posted on social media.

Ray, the lawsuit states, was told by her head coach that her coach had received a message from the head women’s volleyball coach at SJSU stating that it was distasteful for Ray and her teammates to try to make a statement through their photos to have ‘BOYCOTT’ T-shirts made.” Later, according to the lawsuit, the USU head coach, “in front of the entire team, spoke sharply to Kaylie and another teammate who was also in the photo.”

“The USU coach accused Ray of usurping the voice of the team and of being ‘selfish’ for posting the photo,” the lawsuit said. “The USU coach told Ray that this was a hot button issue and that the USU players should avoid making any further public statements on this matter.”

Plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit “that this pushback on Ray’s protected First Amendment activity occurred at a university that allowed female athletes to express their opinions about the SJSU team playing and subsequently canceled the team’s game against USU. This gratuitously illustrates the fraught and hostile environment speech on the men-in-women’s sports issue” the Mountain West Conference’s transgender participation policy “has created and was intended to create.”

The lawsuit also states that Ray said the team was “subsequently pressured to agree to a statement that they would not protest during the MWC championship tournament and was told that the MWC has communicated with coaches and athletic departments to informing them that they need that to get their players on the same page and end the protests.”

“These communications from USU campus personnel have caused Ray and her teammates to worry that they will not be able to play in the conference championship if they do not say exactly what the MWC wants them to say,” the lawsuit said.

Although USU did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from Utah News Dispatch about pressure from state leaders to intervene in the lawsuit, the university did issue a statement to the media last week saying it supports student rights . FOX 13 reported this.

“USU supports the rights of all students to speak out on important issues, regardless of their position,” the university said in the statement. “Ms. Ray has been steadfast in her advocacy for women in sports and USU supports her right to advocate for her position through litigation.