Free Republic

Readers of The Sacramento Bee's coverage of a rally for legislation pitched as protecting girls, women and parental rights at the California statehouse Friday would have no idea someone shot at the house of the volleyball coach who helped inspire the bills and spoke at the rally, or even that San Jose State University fired her for exposing a male on her women's team. The Capitol newspaper's omission of the shot fired through Melissa Batie-Smoose's window Monday while she was at home in a virtual meeting with a lawyer, confirmed by local police Thursday, and her unwilling departure from SJSU...

San Jose State University has acknowledged a recent mass exodus of volleyball players who entered the transfer portal after a controversy-riddled season involving a trans athlete on the team. The university provided a statement to Fox News Digital in which it expressed “respect” for the recent wave of players who have opted to transfer. “Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” the statement read. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that seven of the team’s players have entered the transfer portal. The seven players who are transferring...

Piecemeal decisions at lower courts have created a shifting legal landscape across the nation, advocates say A federal court’s decision last week to allow a biological male at San Jose State University to compete in a women’s collegiate volleyball tournament added yet another layer to the growing patchwork of legal rulings surrounding transgender athletes. That case is still working its way through lower courts, but the decision has led opponents to renew their pleas for a Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

The San José State University (SJSU) women’s volleyball team made international news this season, with coverage by the BBC, the Telegraph, Quillette, the New York Times, CNN, and ESPN. The reason for all this interest is that SJSU had a biological male on the team. This offense against athletic fairness was not received kindly by many involved. Brooke Slusser (a team co-captain), assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, two former players, and eight players from teams that forfeited games against SJSU have all filed suit. Teams from Boise State University, Southern Utah University, Utah State University, the University of Wyoming, and the...

The San Jose State women’s volleyball team continues to face nationwide criticism from people who are claim that the club has a transgender player on the roster. Amid the controversy, several teams have already boycotted their games against San Jose State in recent months. Several athletes from various schools have also filed a federal lawsuit to stop the San Jose State player from taking part in championship games, CNN reported. The San Jose State player who is at the center of the controversy has not made any public comments on the situation. Although the player has been on the team...

A clip of transgender volleyball star Blaire Fleming warming up for the Mountain West Championship final on Saturday night has gone viral, with fans claiming San Jose State should have been made to forfeit the game. Fleming and the team went on to lose to Colorado State in the Las Vegas showpiece, but it did not stop X users from commenting on her ability after watching the clip. In the short, seven-second video posted by reporter Dan Zaksheske, Fleming can be seen approaching the net before leaping high and playing a vicious kill shot back over to her opponent. The...

San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming probably played the final college volleyball game of the athlete’s career after a Mountain West Tournament final loss to Colorado State Saturday night. Fleming led the Spartans on a run to the championship match in a senior season overshadowed by lawsuits from a teammate and a national controversy over Fleming being transgender. Fleming led the team in spikes and prompted four Mountain West rivals to forfeit a total of seven conference games, including a tournament semifinal. But Colorado State never shied away from playing Fleming or the Spartans. The Rams played San Jose...

San Jose State University will face Colorado State Saturday at the Mountain West Conference tournament final in women’s volleyball after a months-long controversy and ongoing legal challenges claiming there is a transgender player on the team. Over the last several months, multiple teams in the Mountain West Conference, as well as one other team, refused to play against San Jose State. The dispute continued as several athletes from various schools in the conference filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month seeking to stop a San Jose State player from competing in championship games....... Neither the player in question nor San...

Boise State, which twice boycotted regular-season matches with San Jose State, pulled out of the Mountain West women’s volleyball tournament Wednesday night even after securing a spot in the semifinals against the Spartans. San Jose State, which received six forfeit victories because of boycotts from Mountain West opponents, is seeded second in the conference tournament and received a first-round bye. Now the Spartans will advance all the way to Saturday’s championship match rather than take the court Friday. Boise State released a statement that read: “The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament...

A federal judge ruled Monday that a member of the San Jose State women’s volleyball team, who’s been at the center of a transgender controversy, can participate in the Mountain West Conference tournament that begins Wednesday, according to The New York Times. Judge S. Kato Crews, an appointee of President Biden to the U.S. District Court in Colorado, made the decision amid a national transgender controversy over Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior who joined the Spartans in 2022. “San José State University will continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms,” the university said in a statement...

Collegiate women’s volleyball players filed multiple lawsuits on Wednesday against the Mountain West Conference over the inclusion of trans-identifying male players in their sport. A dozen women have cited violations of their First Amendment rights and Title IX protections in response to San Jose State University’s biologically male star player Blaire Fleming’s participation in the MWC, prompting four schools in the conference to forfeit games against SJSU, OutKick reported. Several of Flemings’ SJSU teammates, like Captain Brooke Slusser and two former Spartans — along with female athletes from four other colleges — are part of the suit against the conference,...

The college volleyball controversy over a transgender player took a new twist this week when San Jose State University's women's team sued their own coach. SJSU women's volleyball team has had multiple games in the Division-1 Mountain West Conference forfeited by other schools due to safety concerns over playing against Blaire Fleming, who is biologically male. Amid the controversy, which has sparked national debate, some of SJSU's own players have turned on the school, filing a lawsuit against their head coach, the college and the Mountain West Conference. The lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday, asks for Fleming to be declared...

San Jose State asst. volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who coached transgender Blaire Fleming, continues to speak out about protecting women's sports. OutKick exclusively reported her suspension, which began on Nov. 2. The university sent a statement to OutKick confirming the news, but did not provide a reason. "The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter," SJSU said in a statement. The obvious reasoning is Batie-Smoose's opposition to transgender athletes competing in women's sports. San Jose State has...

Last week, the women’s volleyball team at the University of Nevada forfeited its game against San Jose State due to the team’s concern about playing against a transgender player. Still, the forfeit came despite the pressure from Nevada administrators to play the game anyway. Nevada’s athletic department officially announced the forfeit on Friday, noting that the team would not have enough players to take the court. The school initially announced that the team would play against SJSU, but the women on the team seemed to have other ideas and announced that they did not intend to play. Further, they criticized...

An anthropology professor is suing San Jose State University in federal court in California, claiming the school smeared her as a racist and colonialist, and punished her because she’s been critical of a federal antiquities law. The legal complaint (pdf) in the case, Weiss v. Perez, court file 5:22-cv-641, was filed on Jan. 31 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead defendant, Stephen Perez, is being sued in his official capacity as interim president of San Jose State University (SJSU). The public university “retaliated against” SJSU professor Elizabeth Weiss “for her views,” attorney Daniel...

San Jose State University is taking no chances with free-thinking freshmen and transfer students, and has mandated microaggression and diversity training with a minimum $250 price tag in its Frosh Orientation. The training is a one-day orientation on campus and focuses on videos depicting skits of microaggressions performed by student actors and encompasses areas such as culture, ethnicity, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. No portion of the fee is optional and students must participate in every aspect of the day’s programming to be eligible to register for fall classes.

Nothing on the wires yet. No more news given than what I put in the headline.

In a move believed to be the first by a college campus in the nation, San Jose State University President Don Kassing has suspended all campus blood drives because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bars any man who has had sex with another man from donating blood. "The FDA's lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men violates our non-discrimination policy," said Kassing in an e-mail sent to faculty, staff and students. The suspension, which is effective immediately, applies to blood drives arranged by employees representing the university as well as blood drives organized by student groups. The FDA's ban...

Almost two-thirds of California residents believe President George W. Bush is untruthful and only 23 percent approve of his job performance, according to a new poll released today from San Jose State University. In contrast to the president, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating is at a near-record high of 62 percent, according to the poll, conducted by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at SJSU. Schwarzenegger is winning approval from liberal and moderate Californians while still maintaining a 64 percent approval rating among conservatives, according to the survey results. While California's presidential primary is 10 months away, the poll results...

Take that, Stanford. Two San Jose State students have been asked by the White House to represent budding Silicon Valley engineering talent and rub shoulders with President Bush on Friday when he visits Cisco Systems. College of Engineering Dean Belle Wei said she got a call Tuesday from a valley ``Republican heavyweight,'' asking for names. Wei said she thinks SJSU got the call because ``we have normal students, not Stanford students, privileged students.'' After all, Bush is in town to tout his plan for keeping American industry competitive in the computer age. Wei has tapped two of her top students,...