Nevada AD Addresses Allegations of Pressuring Women’s Volleyball to Confront Trans Athletes, Says She Apologized

Reno athletics director Stephanie Rempe of the University of Nevada recently gave a speech national controversy around its women’s volleyball program in a statement to Fox News Digital.

A dispute between volleyball players and the athletic department over whether they should compete against a team featuring a trans athlete resulted in a last minute forfeiture because there were not enough players to participate on Friday. Players told the university they did not want to play the game, but the program refused until the day before the game was scheduled.

Team captain Sia Liilii then claimed that the school told her and her teammates at a press conference on Saturday that “they didn’t understand the science” and that they should “reconsider their position.”

On Sunday, Liilii claimed she and her teammates were told the transgender opponent was “at a disadvantage” due to the drugs used to effect the transition from male to female during the match. Event “Stand with women”. in Philadelphia.

Sophomore Masyn Navarro claimed her teammates were told to “stay quiet” about the controversy during Saturday’s press conference, but did not indicate who told them.

“It shouldn’t be this difficult to stand up for women. However, we will now take this opportunity to stand up as a team, as some have told them to stay quiet,” Navarro said.

Rempe said she has “no knowledge” of the incidents cited by Liilii or Navarro, but she did confirm that she and deputy athletic director Merlene Aitken-Smith held at least one private meeting with the players.

“The deputy athletic director and I met with the volleyball team and coaching staff on October 7, where each member of the team had the opportunity to share their feelings about the situation, ask questions, provide their input on next steps , and we gave the opportunity for resources,” Rempe said.

“I did not tell, and I am not aware of, that any member of the athletics administrative team told the members of our women’s volleyball team that they ‘weren’t adequately trained,’ that they ‘didn’t understand the science.’ , that they had to reconsider their opinion. position or whether they should ‘keep quiet’ about their participation in an Oct. 26 game scheduled against San Jose State University.”

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Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, left, poses with Sia Liilii of Nevada, center right, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown campaign)

The university has also announced several times that players are free not to participate in the match without consequences.

Rempe said she apologized to the players for how they were notified that the university planned to continue with the game even after the players voted to forfeit. The team originally approached the administration to tell them they wanted to forfeit the match, but the program subsequently released a statement saying the program would not forfeit.

“On October 14 and 22, I spoke to the team for less than five minutes each time and those meetings were operational in nature. At all three meetings, I shared our sincere apologies for not sharing the statement released on October 3 prior to their match against UNLV As has been stated several times, we continue to support the rights of the volleyball players who choose to or not to participate,” Rempe said.

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“The focus of our athletics department has always been on the well-being and success of our student-athletes, including their ability to learn and grow from their personal and competitive experiences at our university. This remains our highest priority with respect to all members of our women’s volleyball team.”

Nevada previously said it could not forfeit the match because it would be a violation of state law. Article I, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution provides that “Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.” However, the Constitution was amended in 2022, when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections.

However, that law did not apply Friday, when the university announced it would forfeit because it did not have enough players to compete.

“The decision by the University of Nevada, Reno not to play its scheduled Mountain West Conference game at San Jose State on Saturday, October 26, was based on the fact that there were not enough players to compete and not on the basis of gender identity or expression. This does not violate the Nevada Constitution,” reads a separate statement from the university to Fox News Digital.

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Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at No. 3 San Jose State University, plays outside and right hitter on the women’s volleyball team. (San Jose State University)

Nevada became the fifth team to forfeit a game San Jose State, joining Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State. The cancellations come with a San Jose State player involved in a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging she shared a locker room and bedroom with a transgender teammate, who is still on the team, without ever being told that person was a biological male.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit led by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policy. Slusser joined the lawsuit because she claims she was forced to share a court, a locker room and even a room with her teammate Blaire Fleming during late-night outings without ever being told that Fleming was a biological male.

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