San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team has seen seven current players enter the NCAA’s transfer portal following a season-long controversy over a transgender teammate.
An anonymous source told the San Francisco Chronicle that the seven players are looking to transfer for “various reasons,” including a desire for a “fresh start.”
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In response to what conservative-leaning outlets are characterizing as a “mass exodus,” SJSU issued a statement to Fox News saying that “Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that.”
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As the Associated Press noted in November, the player in question had competed at the college level for the past three seasons, including two seasons with the SJSU team, but drew little attention. Then in September, SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a federal lawsuit filed by anti-trans activist Riley Gaines challenging the NCAA’s transgender inclusion policies. According to the Chronicle, Slusser named the player – who has never spoken publicly about her gender identity – in court filings, outing her as trans.
In November, Slusser filed a lawsuit along with SJSU associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and 10 other current and former Mountain West Conference players against the conference seeking an emergency injunction to have the transgender player declared ineligible to compete in the tournament. A federal judge in Denver rejected the request, and another judge rejected Slusser’s appeal.
According to the Chronicle, associate head coach Baite-Smoose was suspended in October for giving private student information to a conservative media outlet. Slusser, meanwhile, has made appearances on Fox News to misgender her teammate. Neither Slusser nor SJSU’s trans player are eligible to play next season.
As the Chronicle notes, seven of SJSU’s wins this past season came via forfeit when other teams refused to play against a transgender opponent. But SJSU finished second in the recent Mountain West conference, losing to Colorado State in the championship match, and did not advance to the NCAA tournament.
“I will not sugarcoat our reality for the last two months,” SJSU head coach Todd Kress said in a statement following the team’s championship loss. “Our team prepared and was ready to play each match according to established Mountain West and NCAA rules of play. We did not take away anyone’s participation opportunities. Sadly, others who for years have played this same team without incident chose not to play us this season.”
Kress added that the team did not celebrate any of their wins by forfeiture and went on to blast the backlash the team received this season. “Each forfeiture announcement unleashed appalling, hateful messages individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff, and many associated with our program,” he said.
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