San Jose State University (SJSU) and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government in response to its determination that SJSU violated Title IX by allowing a transgender volleyball player to compete on the women’s team.

The current administration launched an investigation into the university immediately following the president’s executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, issued soon after he took office. The school made headlines in the heat of the 2024 election campaign when the girls’ volleyball team co-captain, Brooke Slusser, joined a lawsuit led by anti-trans activist and swimmer Riley Gaines which challenged the NCAA’s transgender-inclusion policies and outed the trans player on Slusser’s team.

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In January, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) warned SJSU that it risks “imminent enforcement action” if it doesn’t voluntarily resolve the violations, which took place under Biden-era rules that interpreted Title IX as prohibiting discrimination against transgender student-athletes.

In addition to the ED’s demands that the school adopt the federal government’s “biology-based definitions” of the words “male” and “female”, acknowledge that sex is unchangeable, and “restore all individual athletic records and titles misappropriated by male athletes competing in women’s categories,” the administration wants San Jose State to “issue a personalized letter of apology on behalf of SJSU to each female athlete for allowing her participation in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination.”

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Instead, the school is fighting back.

SJSU president  Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced the lawsuit on Friday. She said the school believes the findings by the federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “aren’t grounded in the facts or the law.”

“This is not a step we take lightly,” Teniente-Matson continued. “However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so.”

The statement also confirmed the school’s “unwavering” support for LGBTQ+ students: “We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community. We’ve heard the fear and anxiety that it has created and recognize that waiting for the university’s response has been difficult at a time already filled with uncertainty.” 

Slusser called the school’s response “absolutely absurd” and said Teniente-Matson “can’t get off her high horse long enough to even send an apology.”