Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah State University seeks to join a lawsuit asking to disqualify a San Jose State volleyball player from the conference tournament.
- The lawsuit claims the player is ineligible because it alleges she was born male.
- The complaints challenges the conference's participation rules for transgender athletes and says the conference has failed to protect female athletes.
LOGAN — Utah State University asked to join a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference Monday which seeks to disqualify a San Jose State women's volleyball player ahead of the conference tournament later this month.
The court filing came hours after top political leaders in the state asked the university to intervene on behalf of Kaylie Ray, an original plaintiff in the case and member of USU's women's volleyball team. The lawsuit alleges that San Jose State's Blair Fleming was born a male and should be ineligible to participate in the upcoming conference tournament.
"Female athletes deserve the right to a safe playing field, fair competition and equal opportunities," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams said in a joint statement Monday, urging USU to get involved.
The university filed a motion to be included as a limited plaintiff in regard to the lawsuit's request for a preliminary injunction to disqualify Fleming from the tournament.
Its motion states: "USU's interests in the well-being of its women's volleyball members and student-athletes, the success of its team at the MWC tournament and potentially the NCAA tournament, and its compliance obligations under Title IX could all possibly be affected by the court's resolution of the (preliminary injunction) motion."
USU's women's volleyball team was one of four teams to forfeit matches against San Jose State this season after players declined to compete against the squad.
The university's motion notes that San Jose State is currently ahead of USU in the conference standings.
"Both teams still have regular season matches to play," the filing states. "But as of right now, SJSU has a better winning percentage and will receive a higher tournament seed (and first-round bye) solely because the MWC (Transgender Participation Policy) awarded SJSU a win and punished USU with a loss for USU volleyball team's decision not to play SJSU's team rostering a transgender female during the regular season."
Last month, Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez told the Associated Press the student-athlete in question "meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it's a forfeit, meaning they take a loss."
Ray alleged in the original lawsuit that she faced pushback for speaking out on the issue and said she was scolded for posting a photo of herself and teammates wearing a T-shirt that said "BOYcott." USU's filing request only limited participation in the lawsuit as it relates to Fleming's eligibility, in part because of the claims Ray made.
"Here, USU meets its minimal burden to show its interests may vary from plaintiffs' interests," the filing states. "That's readily apparent from the fact that plaintiffs' complaint and (preliminary injunction) motion allege USU is part of the problem — suppressing volleyball members' free speech rights — rather than part of the solution. ... USU disputes those allegations. That disagreement need not be resolved now, but it does show that the plaintiffs may not adequately represent USU's interests and, in fact, may take a materially adverse position to USU if plaintiffs think it benefits their own claims and interests."
The Mountain West Conference issued a statement to KSL on Friday, saying: "The Mountain West Conference prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and (Mountain West) policies. 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."
