Lawsuit Seeks to Bar Volleyball Player From Mountain West Conference Tournament

Editors note: This story was updated Nov. 15 with information related to the motion for an emergency injunction.

A federal lawsuit filed against the Mountain West Conference, league commissioner Gloria Nevarez, and others over a purported transgender volleyball player at San José State could impact the conference’s upcoming postseason tournament. 

A dozen women—including SJSU assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and co-captain Brooke Slusser—requested an injunction as part of the lawsuit filed in a Colorado federal court Wednesday to prevent the player’s participation in the MWC championships. The plaintiffs also seek an injunction that would restrain the MWC from using the current standings—which includes SJSU’s forfeited wins attained after Boise State, Wyoming, the University of Nevada-Reno, and Utah State refused to play the Spartans—to determine the six-team tournament that begins Nov. 27. 

On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews tentatively scheduled a hearing to consider the plaintiff’s motion for an emergency injunction for Nov. 21.

The lawsuit named the purported trans player, but the athlete in question has never publicly discussed their gender identity. The university has never said the athlete is transgender. Batie-Smoose has been suspended indefinitely by SJSU, according to the lawsuit. 

“This lawsuit is an extremist attack that weaponizes and distorts the language of women’s rights to justify discrimination and bigotry,” Shiwali Patel, senior director of safe and inclusive schools for the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “These anti-trans extremists are relying on disinformation and attempting to misuse civil rights laws to force illegal discrimination against women and girls who don’t conform to their stereotypes, in ways that would violate Title IX and the Constitution, and also reinforce anti-LGBTQI+ stigma and bigotry in our society.”

The attorney for the athletes suing the Mountain West said that the women’s First Amendment rights were being violated. 

“Recently, the MWC, SJSU, and the other defendants have collectively manipulated MWC rules, diminished sport opportunities for women, spread inaccurate information, used their positions to chill and suppress speech with which they disagree, and punished dozens of female collegiate volleyball student-athletes for taking a public stand for their right to compete in a separate sports category, all in a concerted effort to stamp out debate over women’s rights in sport,” William Bock wrote in the civil complaint.

The plaintiffs also include two former SJSU women’s volleyball players, two current University of Nevada-Reno volleyball players, a current Utah State University volleyball player, three Wyoming volleyball players, and two Boise State volleyball players. All are on teams that refused to play San José State this year over the participation of the athlete. San José State’s record is 11–5 after the Spartans lost their previous two contests, placing them second in the 11-team Mountain West, but six wins of those are forfeits, per the lawsuit. 

SJSU told FOS it “will not comment at this time.” The Mountain West declined to comment on the particulars of the suit in a statement to FOS.

“The Mountain West Conference prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and MW policies,” the MWC said. “While we are unable to comment on the pending litigation of this particular situation, we take seriously all concerns of student-athlete welfare and fairness.”

In September, Slusser was added as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the NCAA earlier this year that counts former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines as its lead plaintiff. The suit alleges the NCAA and co-defendant Georgia misapplied Title IX when it allowed transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete in the 2022 NCAA championships. 

The other defendants in this latest action include the Cal State University Board of Trustees, several SJSU administrators, and Spartans head volleyball coach Todd Kress. 

The complaint alleges the MWC made “under-the-radar, non-publicized changes” to the conference’s transgender participation policy in September and the conference has “no authority to impose a forfeit or assign a win or loss when a concern over student-athlete safety causes a contest not to be played or completed.”

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez told the Associated Press in October. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Bock and Justin R. Olson—two lawyers who represent plaintiffs both in the NCAA case as well as the latest lawsuit filed against the MWC—did not request an injunction in the NCAA lawsuit. Bock spent more than 13 years as general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency before departing USADA in 2021.