Campus conflict exposed at the core of SJSU’s messy fight vs Trump admin over volleyball scandal

SPECIAL: Since the beginning of 2026, San Jose State University (SJSU) has demanded that a donor be removed from the key list in protest, a parade of pro-trans activists have barraged demands at administrators in an organized meeting, and allegations of assault against the head volleyball coach have surfaced.

Fox News Digital obtained exclusive video and documents and emails from independently verified sources through a public records request that exposed a university paralyzed and divided by the 2024 volleyball scandal involving Blaire Fleming and Brooke Slusser.

CONCLUSION OF SJSU VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: ‘THIS IS A CLEAR PROBLEM’

SJSU and the California State University system (CSU) are currently filing lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration to argue that the school acted lawfully in its handling of the scandal and to reject the findings of the federal investigation.

The case could set a national precedent for enforcing Title IX for public universities as SJSU faces internal and external friction.

Trans City Hall

A town hall was held on February 26 at the SJSU engineering building.

A copy of the invitation obtained by Fox News Digital included the headline “Transgender Rights Town Hall with SJSU Administration” written in large, bold letters. The topic to be discussed was SJSU’s response to the Trump administration’s proposed solution.

“Please come to City Hall with the SJSU President and senior leadership and tell them they need to support our transgender students,” she wrote.

The registration form stated that SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson would also attend the meeting. However, he was not there, as seen in footage of the meeting provided to Fox News Digital from an independently verified source.

It was seen that only two managers attended the meeting.

One by one, pro-trans activists approached the podium and launched emotionally charged shouts, often directed at the two executives. At one point, one of the speakers expressed that he was “glad” the meeting was being recorded so it could be sent to Teniente-Matson later. In the images obtained, it was seen that a separate video camera recorded the incident.

The two managers there were given strict orders not to accept the settlement agreement.

One person exclaimed: “This is about protecting all oppressed communities on campus, doing more than just paying lip service, and going to CSU and saying ‘We will never bow to violent transphobic demands or any other oppressive demands from this disgusting, disgusting current administration!’ It’s about doing your job.”

At one point in the meeting, a speaker said, “It’s your job to make sure Cynthia walks into the room and relays all of this information to the appropriate people. This is not a compromise. We’re talking about people’s human rights. We’re talking about the enforcement of segregation on our campus. This is not something we can surrender to. This is not negotiable.”

Teniente-Matson’s absence from the meeting was a frequent point of anger among many speakers.

“We heard from management, ‘We’re doing the best we can. We’re doing the best we can with the cards we’ve been given,'” one of them shouted. Taurus f… s…. Bulls —. No. Uh-uh… The best you’ve got isn’t enough. Like point blank. You can do the best you can. You can say it’s the best you can. It’s not enough. People get hurt. People are scared.”

Another said, “45 minutes. They gave us 45 minutes for this issue, 45 minutes. And they didn’t even give us 45 minutes. They gave us zero because two of those seats are currently vacant. They didn’t even show up. They gave us a bull; they emailed about two hours before the event started.”

Just eight days later, on March 6, SJSU and the entire CSU system announced they were suing the federal government to challenge the ED investigation and its findings.

“Our support for LGBTQ members of our community who have been subjected to threats and harm over the past several years is unwavering… We have heard the fear and anxiety this has created, and we recognize that it is difficult to wait for the university’s response during a time already filled with uncertainty,” Teniente-Matson wrote in the lawsuit announcement.

Administrative inboxes received responses from faculty, students and alumni with reactions to the news, as seen in public records obtained by Fox News Digital.

“I went to city hall and heard the students’ concerns and pain,” one professor wrote to Teniente-Matson. “Thank you for showing the nation how to fight with honour.”

Another SJSU employee emailed Vice President for University Advancement Judy Nagai expressing her concerns. This email was then flagged to other administrators.

“It is important to note that the University’s communications do not directly address concerns about women’s fairness and privacy,” she wrote in the email. “It’s easy to see how the messaging could be seen as vague or even dismissive of women’s rights for some, especially given the strong emphasis on inclusivity for LGBTQ students.”

Nagai forwarded this email to Teniente-Matson and other executives and wrote: “[redacted] he responded with a lengthy response below. “He’ll probably attend the alumni board meeting.”

Nagai later sent a mass email advising administrators on how to deal with individuals who had concerns about the case.

“If you have any questions, comments or concerns from alumni, volunteers and donors regarding this matter, please contact us. [Associate Vice President of Strategy & Campaigns Manaf Mansure] so that it can monitor and evaluate an appropriate response with guidance from UMC and university leadership,” Nagai wrote.

“This includes all forms of communication (phone calls, emails, texts, mobile messages and in-person conversations).”

‘Please remove me from your list’

A month before the town hall and five days before the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that it had determined SJSU had violated Title IX, a donor sent an email to the school that was forwarded to Nagai. This was in response to the announcement about the school’s philanthropic partner, The Tower Foundation.

The subject line read, “No more donations to SJSU.”

“Judy, please take me off your list. I am absolutely against transgender athletes playing in women’s sports. I have no problem with transgender people, but women who work so hard to advance their careers in athletics are being denied the chance to rank and be recognized,” the donor wrote.

“I was involved with the Tower Foundation for years and was a supporter of it. I wrote to the President and asked him to convey my feelings to the President. A separate transgender program is good and logical to me. To me, Title IX was to advance and protect women.”

SJSU provided the donor’s email in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The University takes its legal obligations under Title IX very seriously. The University has followed and continues to comply with the law,” the statement said. The statement was included.

The email was sent to Fox News Digital in response to a public records request. The identity of the person who sent the email was redacted by SJSU.

Less than a week later, on January 28, the ED announced that SJSU had been found to be in violation of Title IX after conducting an almost year-long investigation into the volleyball scandal. ED gave SJSU an ultimatum to agree to resolve the violation; this would include apologies to players and changes to official program records, but no fines.

But later that day, SJSU’s Chief Risk Officer Karen Vogler emailed a finance colleague about a potentially different risk.

“It does not appear that SJSU will face any fines or fines as a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s investigation. However, the claims/lawsuits may escalate given their findings that Title IX violations extend into 2022,” Vogler wrote.

Facing the fallout

Over the past two weeks, Fox News Digital has covered decades-old allegations against the coach of the controversial 2024 team. One of Kress’ former players at Fairfield University sent a letter to SJSU in October 2024, near the height of the scandal’s national exposure, containing allegations that Kress assaulted him in a hotel room in 1998.

The former actor made his first public statement on Tuesday since the allegations first emerged in a Fox News Digital report on July 7.

“SJSU knew I feared for the safety of the women in the program since October 2024, and yet they allowed Todd to continue coaching and traveling with the team,” she told Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity. “I notified both Fairfield and SJSU about my 1998 encounter with Todd after reading accounts from young women on the 2024 SJSU team describing Todd’s intimidating, coercive and manipulative behavior.”

SJSU was in this predicament three years after Slusser was allegedly persuaded by Kress to move into an apartment with Fleming.

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The alleged treatment of Slusser and all other players on those teams from 2022-24 would be included in ED’s 45-page findings if SJSU accepts the settlement agreement.

But SJSU and CSU want the entire investigation to be annulled, as noted in a copy of the lawsuit obtained by Fox News Digital.

CSU and the federal government submitted a joint proposed order on March 27, 2026, that would prevent ED from using its findings to immediately cut federal funding.

Meanwhile, Slusser and former SJSU assistant head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose continue to file their own individual lawsuits against the institutions.

Slusser’s case will soon receive a ruling on motions to dismiss after a federal judge postponed a final decision on the Title IX charges in the case until after the Supreme Court’s recent cases involving transgender athletes in women’s sports. All nine justices in the cases unanimously agreed that the federal Title IX law does not prohibit states from establishing separate sports teams for biological women or excluding transgender girls and women from sports teams for women and girls.

A unanimous interpretation of Title IX could strengthen Slusser’s chances of advancing past motions to dismiss, but it does not guarantee it.

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Batie-Smoose, meanwhile, is filing a wrongful termination lawsuit with SJSU.

Oral arguments in this case are scheduled for August 21.