Wyoming’s congressional delegation, and 10 more members of Congress, sent a letter Monday to the commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, urging her to keep males out of women’s sports.
The letter follows a two-month controversy in which five Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball teams have forfeited games against San Jose State University, which has a transgender player in its roster.
“Life isn’t fair, but sports should be,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, wrote in a Monday post to X, atop the letter itself. “I joined (Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho) in sending a letter to the Mountain West Commissioner, demanding the conference fix the inequities that women’s sports teams like the Wyoming Cowgirls faced this season.”
Addressed to Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, the letter says the delegates have serious concerns about safety and fair competition for female athletes in the conference, and urge the conference to update its student-athlete guidelines to prohibit males from competing against female students in women’s sports.
It cites federal education law Title IX, which was established more than 50 years ago to eliminate sex discrimination in education.
“Recent events have shown this is at risk,” says the letter, adding that schools have forfeited games, risking their competitive standings “to ensure the safety of their female athletes.”
'Unacceptable Trend'
Most of the forfeiting schools, including the University of Wyoming, have not said outright why they have forfeited games against SJSU. Most of student-athletes on the University of Nevada-Reno team, however, specifically cited their safety and fairness concerns.
“We applaud the bravery of these female athletes and the universities in our home states for taking a stand to preserve Title IX when the Mountain West Conference would not,” says the letter.
Title IX recognizes fundamental biological differences between men and women and allows them to have separate programs and activities, including athletics, the document continues.
It says failing to recognize those biological differences puts women in harm’s way.
“As representatives of our states and as parents and grandparents, we demand you take action to reverse this unacceptable trend,” the letter says.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes voted unanimously in April to allow only females to compete in women’s sports. Nearly two dozen U.S. senators sent a letter to the NCAA’s president urging the organization to adopt that guidance earlier this year, the letter says.
The letter cites the MWC’s handbook, which defines and calls for gender equity.
“Permitting biological men to play in women’s sports is not equitable; it is an injustice,” says the letter. “It is only fair that biological males play men’s sports and biological females play women’s sports. Clearly, the Mountain West Conference has dropped the ball.”
Lummis and her senior counterpart Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, signed the letter along with Wyoming’s only U.S. House representative, Republican Harriet Hageman.
Risch gave the lead signature on the letter.
The other signatures belong to Republican Reps. Burgess Owens (Utah), Russ Fulcher (Idaho), Mike Simpson (Idaho), John Curtis (Utah), Celeste Maloy (Utah) and Blake Moore (Utah); and Republican Sens. Mike Crapo (Idaho), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Mike Lee (Utah).
OK, But …
The Mountain West Conference spokesman did not immediately return a Monday email request for comment on the delegates’ letter. Earlier in the day, however, MWC sent Cowboy State Daily its comment on some of the allegations embroiling this situation.
The conference found an earlier Title IX complaint unfounded, says the statement.
The complaint, by San Jose State University team associate coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, had alleged that SJSU’s transgender player, Blaire Fleming, colluded with a Colorado State University player to throw an Oct. 3 match in Fort Collins and hurt San Jose team co-captain Brooke Slusser.
“The Mountain West Conference, in coordination with Colorado State University (CSU) and San Jose State University (SJSU), launched a thorough investigation into the serious allegations made regarding competition manipulation during a volleyball match played between the institutions on October 3,” the MWC statement says. “Upon review and evaluation of the extensive information gathered during the investigation, there is insufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations of misconduct related to the match in question. As a result, the Conference office has determined no disciplinary action is warranted and considers this matter closed.”
That Complaint Was …
Batie-Smoose, who is reported to be suspended at this time, had written in her complaint that Fleming snuck out of the team hotel Oct. 2, the night before a game in Fort Collins against the Colorado State University.
This was days after Slusser joined women’s-rights activist Riley Gaines in suing the NCAA. The crux of Slusser’s filing was that Fleming’s inclusion on the California team was not safe and was widely perceived as unfair.
Fleming and other student-athletes met with a CSU player that night, San Jose head coach Todd Kress has since confirmed in an ESPN interview.
Also that night, a player received a message from a new contact on Instagram, warning her to “please distance yourself from brooke. tomorrow at the game, it will not be good for her.”
The next day, Oct. 3, Fleming’s play against CSU was erratic, according to Batie-Smoose’s account. The outside hitter was missing vital blocks and committing near-constant errors, says Batie-Smoose’s account, which has since been included in a bombshell lawsuit that Batie-Smoose and 11 female athletes from across the conference filed last week against MWC.
Fleming’s style of play that day appeared to allow the opposite player on the Colorado team a clean shot toward Slusser’s face, says Batie-Smoose’s account.
Later, a SJSU player tearfully confessed to her teammates and then her coaches that she’d gone with Fleming and heard discussion about how Fleming could throw the game and give the Colorado player a clear shot to “blast” Slusser in the face, according to the lawsuit complaint.
That’s ‘Inadequate,’ Say Plaintiffs
The women suing the MWC say its investigation into the collusion claims was “inadequate,” according to a Sunday letter by the plaintiffs’ legal counsel and attorney for the Independent Council On Women’s Sports (ICONS), William Bock III.
“It is stunning,” says Bock’s letter, “that the MWC never sought to advise either Coach Batie-Smoose, the whistleblower, or Brooke Slusser, the victim, that the MWC had concluded its investigation and ‘consider(s) the matter closed.’”
Bock obtained the close-out letter when it was leaked to the media, he wrote.
“It appears that the MWC has simply decided to overlook the potential culpability of SJSU and Coach Kress for not complying with (a rule requiring quick reporting of misconduct allegations),” the letter says.
Bock’s letter calls MWC’s actions “an indication of bias.”
The leaked close-out letter, which MWC did not send to Cowboy State Daily at the outlet’s request (opting instead to send a statement), says that the conference spoke with head coaches at both SJSU and CSU, according to Bock’s letter. It also says both teams’ coaches reviewed video of the match; third-party volleyball subject matter experts reviewed the video as well; a third-party investigator conducted multiple interviews; and the conference also consulted its sports wagering compliance partner.
Bock calls each of these matters either inadequate or opaque allusions.
For example, the third-party investigator is MWC’s legal counsel, which means the investigator is not independent of the MWC, Bock’s letter argues.
More helpful than reviewing video of the match would have been “forensic testing and analysis of the electronic devices and social media accounts of Fleming and (the CSU player),” Bock’s letter continues.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
