The Trump administration threatened Tuesday to pull federal funding from San Jose State University, raising the stakes over the university’s refusal to make amends for allowing a biological male to play on the women’s volleyball team.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights slapped the university with a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action, giving the campus 10 days to resolve its compliance issues or risk a referral to the Department of Justice and the loss of federal funds.
The office found in January that SJSU violated Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, which prohibit sex discrimination in education, by including Blaire Fleming, a biological male who identifies as female, on the women’s volleyball and beach volleyball teams from 2022-24.
“OCR submitted to SJSU a proposed Resolution Agreement with terms that would have resolved its Title IX violations,” the department said in a Tuesday statement. “SJSU refused to sign it or attempt to negotiate its terms, and has taken no other action to ensure the safety of its female students and deliver equal educational opportunities.”
That said, the California State University System hasn’t exactly been silent on the matter.
The 23-campus system, which includes SJSU, filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month challenging the Title IX finding and accusing the Trump administration of “an unlawful attempt to retroactively punish San Jose State University.”
“To be clear, the CSU vigorously disagrees with OCR’s legal position and factual findings and stands firmly in support of SJSU,” said the system in a March 6 statement. “SJSU followed all applicable NCAA rules and federal law in effect during the 2022–2024 SJSU women’s volleyball team seasons. The actions now being challenged were lawful and consistent with governing rules, regulations, and court precedent.”
As a result, “the CSU will not agree to accept the terms of the Proposed Resolution Agreement,” said the statement.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose seeks a court order blocking the administration from “terminating, freezing, blocking, or refusing to grant SJSU’s funding.”
Fleming played on the volleyball team before President Trump took office, and the rules of the game have since changed.
The NCAA reversed its policy allowing transgender athletes to play on women’s teams on Feb. 6, 2025, the day after Mr. Trump issued his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order clarifying that Title IX applies to women only.
The administration’s proposed resolution agreement requires SJSU to adopt biologically based definitions of “male” and “female;” separate sports, restrooms and locker rooms by sex; restore titles and honors to female athletes, and send letters of apology to every woman affected by the transgender athlete’s participation.
In June, the University of Pennsylvania entered into a similar resolution to resolve its Title IX violations stemming from the participation of swimmer Lia Thomas during the 2021-22 season, opting to cooperate rather than risk its federal funding or trigger a Justice Department probe.
The department’s investigation found that SJSU recruited Fleming for the team, but failed to disclose the player’s biological sex to teammates, even though they were required to room together during road trips.
The coaching staff later retaliated against an assistant coach and female players who objected to the athlete’s participation, according to the department.
“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,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey in a statement.
“Even worse, when female athletes spoke out, SJSU retaliated — ignoring sex-discrimination claims while subjecting one female SJSU athlete to a Title IX complaint for allegedly ’misgendering’ the male athlete competing on a women’s team. This is unacceptable,” she said. “We will not relent until SJSU is held to account for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities.”
Five teams forfeited their games against SJSU during the 2024 season, while eight female players sued the Mountain West Conference over Fleming’s participation.
A federal judge threw out parts of the case in a March 3 ruling, saying they were now moot, but allowed the Title IX claims to proceed pending a ruling on the issue by the Supreme Court.
