Lawyers fighting SJSU over volleyball scandal respond to findings of federal Title IX probe

INTERMEDIATE: Many attorneys representing women affected by the San José State University (SJSU) volleyball scandal have responded to the findings of a federal investigation into the incident.

Part of the investigation’s findings, published by Fox News Digital on Wednesday, reveals new details about how the school handled allegations against a team athlete of planning to harm teammates during a game, the first hiring of an athlete without allegations of disclosing the player’s birth gender to other players and “silencing dissent” after the scandal came to light.

SJSU and the California State University (CSU) system are also currently suing the US Department of Education for an investigation into the school’s handling of a transgender volleyball player and female teammates from 2022-24.

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Attorney Bill Bock is representing former SJSU player Brooke Slusser and 10 other Mountain West Conference players in a Title IX lawsuit against SJSU and CSU over the scandal.

“The U.S. Department of Education’s findings are consistent with facts brought boldly two years ago in a federal court complaint filed by Brooke Slusser and other women’s volleyball players against the California State University Board of Trustees and the Mountain West Conference, including that San Jose State University violated Title IX and discriminated against women by allowing a man to participate on SJSU’s SJSU team against SJSU’s SJSU team against San Jose. to participate on the women’s volleyball team, and San Jose State University allowed you to get revenge on Brooke Slusser,” Bock told Fox News Digital.

“Brooke and other women’s volleyball players continue to fight for justice in federal court and are encouraged that SJSU’s discrimination against them has been vindicated by the US Department of Education’s investigation.”

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Attorney Vernadette Broyles is representing former SJSU assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose in a wrongful termination lawsuit, after Batie-Smoose spoke ill of the school’s handling of the situation, and later did not renew her contract.

“The US Department of Education’s findings confirm what coach Batie-Smoose saw firsthand: female athletes were kept in the dark, their voiced concerns for safety and fairness were ignored, and those who spoke up were intimidated and silenced,” Broyles told Fox News Digital.

“Melissa was punished for doing what Title IX requires: standing up for the female athletes she coached. SJSU’s decision to sue the Trump administration instead of fixing the problem and complying with Title IX shows that they still refuse to accept that natural men don’t participate in women’s sports. We are proud to represent Melissa in responding to CSU.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to SJSU, CSU and the Mountain West Conference for comment.

California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton answered a question about SJSU and CSU’s lawsuit against the Department of Education in an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday, ahead of the publication of the latest findings.

“This is what is happening across the board in California. You have the usual positions that are advanced by the Trump administration, whether it is related to this issue, whether it is on antisemitism, and all these things and you have far left views in California that are spending public money, fighting common sense. It is completely absurd, we are done when IX asks about the management of Title, “IX asks about the management of Title SU, ” the investigation found.

“That’s why we’re going to kick these Democrats out this year. We have to have common sense that resonates with the majority of Californians.”

Fox News Digital obtained the Department of Education’s written findings of its Title IX investigation into SJSU in 2025 and 2026. The findings were provided to SJSU in response to a public records request.

Many of the people mentioned in the findings are identified only by anonymous titles. However, the findings refer to these individuals in cases that Fox News Digital has reported on in the past, and based on the previous report, Fox News Digital reasonably believes that those individuals may be SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress (Coach 2), Batie-Smoose (Coach 3), former transgender athlete Blaire Fleming (Student 1), and Slusser (Student 3).

Other SJSU players and staff were also identified by anonymous titles, but Fox News Digital is not identifying them by name, at this time.

The findings went on to reveal that it was “undisputed” that there was a “discussed plan to harm” Slusser, led by Fleming.

“It is disputed whether Students 1 and 9 actually followed a plan to harm Student 3, even if the conversation was intended as a joke. However, what cannot be disputed is that there was a plan discussed to harm Student 3, and that plan to harm Student 3 was discussed by Student 1 and Student 9 in front of two other San José State University team,” the State University team found.

The findings later stated, “In order to silence the opposition, ‘intimidation tactics’ were used. The women in the group were told that they had to be careful what they said because they all signed a contract and might lose their scholarship. That threat made several members of the group afraid to speak. Student 10 said that at one point, Coach 2 told the group to be careful about how they behaved around Student 1.”

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The findings also revealed allegations of collusion between Kress and Batie-Smoose regarding Fleming’s treatment.

“Coach 3 says he was specifically instructed by Coach 2 and the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Wellness and Leadership Development not to tell anyone on the team or outside the team that Student 1 is male. Coach 3 says he was also told ‘anyone who disagrees with him. [Student 1] being on the women’s volleyball team requires medical attention and needs to leave SJSU,'” the findings said.

Bock and Slusser’s lawsuit against SJSU and CSU initially survived motions to dismiss in early March, as federal judge Kato Crews postponed a decision on the Title IX claims against the defendants until after the US Supreme Court’s ruling on a trans athlete in West Virginia.

The decision is expected this month, and could set a new precedent for how Title IX is interpreted nationally.

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The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the “Save Women’s Sports” defendants in the Title IX SCOTUS lawsuits expected to be decided this month, previously spoke about the potential impact of the ruling.

“We hope that the Supreme Court’s decision will confirm that Title IX was designed to ensure equal opportunities for women, not allowing male athletes to drive women and girls out of competition. It is important that sports be segregated by sex not only for women’s equal opportunities but for safety and privacy. Title IX must protect the right of women to compete in their sports. Allowing men to advance to the ADF0 category for a female president,” said the Vice President. Prosecution strategies Jonathan Scruggs told Fox News Digital.