Education Department found San Jose State violated Title IX over transgender volleyball player, threatened funding

On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced it had found that San Jose State University violated Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to compete on its women's volleyball team, and by retaliating against players and a coach who objected. The department issued SJSU a proposed Resolution Agreement requiring the university to adopt the administration's binary definitions of "male" and "female," restore athletic records and titles it said were misappropriated, and send personalized written apologies to every woman on the 2022-2024 indoor volleyball roster and the 2023 beach volleyball team. The department said that if SJSU rejects the deal, it could face a Justice Department lawsuit and the loss of federal funding.

OCR opened its directed investigation into SJSU in February 2025, alongside a parallel probe of the University of Pennsylvania. Penn later accepted a similar settlement over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, modifying her records and apologizing to teammates -- the template the department applied to San Jose State nearly a year later. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in the department's statement, "We will not relent until SJSU is held to account for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities."

San Jose State's volleyball team drew national attention after nine athletes in the Mountain West Conference sued over the league's policy permitting transgender athletes to compete, and seven opposing teams forfeited matches during one season rather than face the Spartans. SJSU has not confirmed its roster included a transgender player, and university officials did not immediately comment on the finding.

The action extends a federal enforcement campaign -- also applied against Colorado's Jefferson County schools and Smith College -- that uses the threat of losing federal funding to compel individual institutions to adopt the administration's contested definition of sex under Title IX, bypassing legislation or the courts.

Updates

2026-03-06 — CSU and San Jose State sued the Education Department over the finding [4]

The California State University system and San Jose State filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, arguing the administration lacked authority to retroactively apply a new Title IX interpretation to conduct that complied with Biden-era guidance in effect from 2022-2024.

2026-03-24 — OCR issued a Letter of Impending Enforcement, giving SJSU 10 days to comply or lose funding [5]

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights gave San Jose State 10 days to sign the resolution agreement or face referral to the Justice Department and termination of federal funding. Assistant Secretary Kimberly Richey said the university was "on notice: comply with the law or risk losing its federal funding."

2026-03-27 — A court stipulation preserved SJSU's federal funding pending litigation [6]

The Education Department and CSU filed a stipulation guaranteeing the university an opportunity to challenge any funding cut or freeze before it takes effect while the lawsuit proceeds; CSU was not required to alter its policies, and its underlying suit against the department continued.