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Education Department Gives San José State 10 Days to Comply or Risk Federal Funding Over Title IX Finding

The move tests how Title IX will be applied to transgender participation in college sports.

Overview

  • SJSU received a Letter of Impending Enforcement that Tuesday gave the school 10 days to accept federal remedies or face a Justice Department referral and the loss of federal funding.
  • The Office for Civil Rights found in January that SJSU violated Title IX by allowing Blaire Fleming, a transgender woman, to play on women’s volleyball and beach teams from 2022 to 2024 after several Mountain West teams forfeited matches.
  • The department’s proposed resolution would adopt biology-based definitions of sex, separate sports and locker rooms by sex, restore women’s records and titles, and issue personalized apologies to affected athletes.
  • SJSU and the California State University system sued on March 6 to block enforcement, arguing Ninth Circuit precedent protects transgender students and calling the department’s action an overreach.
  • Cal State says losing federal support could cut roughly $130 million in student aid and about $175 million in research, and a judge paused a related player lawsuit until the Supreme Court rules in B.P.J. v. West Virginia expected in June.