Inside San Jose State's police battle to protect women's athletes threatened by a transgender culture war

Brooke Slusser was enjoying a normal night on campus when she got the first-ever threat against her life.

It was Oct. 2, she was just hours away from traveling to play a college volleyball game for her San Jose State Spartans at Colorado State. But then, before she drifted to sleep that night, a teammate ran to her with an urgent warning. 

"One of my teammates got a DM, basically saying that she, and then my team, needed to keep my distance from me on gameday against Colorado State, because it wasn’t going to be a good situation for me to be in and that my team needed to keep their distance," Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "They needed to keep their distance from me during the game, because something was going to happen to me.

"This was the first physical threat when we could easily see that they wanted to physically harm one of us."

It was the first time she had ever experienced anything like that, she said. Brooke was just a college junior from Denton, Texas – a town with historically conservative political leanings and an exceptionally low violent crime rate. 

But she wasn’t in Texas anymore. She was in California. 

Police behind the San Jose State University Spartans bench monitor Moby Arena during an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game between the Spartans and the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Thursday, October 3, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Unlike Texas, California is a state where there are no laws to prevent transgender inclusion in college sports. After being told that one of her teammates was a transgender female, and she had not even been notified of it despite sharing a locker room and even rooms on overnight trips with that person, she joined a lawsuit against the NCAA. 

Blaire Fleming, a San Jose State player who has continued to play this season amid the lawsuit, joined the program the same year as Slusser did in 2022. They played two full seasons together without Slusser being told that Fleming was a biological male.

Slusser's lawsuit alleges that San Jose State had not warned any of its recruits that it had a transgender athlete on the team, even though "this was now a well-known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone else at SJSU," when she joined the lawsuit, headed by former college swimmer and OutKick host Riley Gaines, in May. 

And suddenly, in a heated election year, Slusser, Fleming and their teammates were thrust into the spotlight of national-scale partisan debate between gender identity rights and the sanctity of women’s sports.

Because of this, Slusser now has to be even more concerned for her physical safety. 

Brooke Slusser is a junior at San Jose State university who plays volleyball and has joined a lawsuit against the NCAA. (Courtesy of San Jose State athletics)

"If they are willing to make a threat in that way, they’re definitely some sort of pro-transgender beliefs, but I wouldn’t be able to 100 percent say if they’re a transgender activist or not," Slusser said when asked about the potential motivations behind the threat.

Slusser swiftly reported the incident. The team already had a regular security guard that traveled with the players for home and away games, but that wasn’t going to be enough anymore. 

"No matter what people’s opinions are, whether they want to support not allowing trans in the NCAA, or if they do support that, whatever they think, there obviously are two sides to having me on the team and having Blaire on the team, so it’s just this fear that you never even know what people are going to do these days," Slusser said. 

So, the team turned to armed security.

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Even before that threat, the program was already in the process of bolstering its protection as it garnered more and more national attention. 

When Southern Utah became the first program to announce that it would be forfeiting its match against the Spartans in early September, that was the first indicator for heightened security. That’s when the college pulled the trigger on bringing in reinforcements.

A San Jose State University spokesperson, in liaison with the police department, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the volleyball team was told it would be getting added security of some kind after its first cancelation by an opposing program, as news of Slusser’s lawsuit spread. It would only be the first of four official forfeits and one more that is disputed.

Shortly after that first cancelation, the university’s in-house police department, UPD, was alerted of the situation and got involved. 

San Jose State confirmed to Fox News Digital that there was some campus police presence in the Spartan Gym at Yosh Uchida Hall for the team’s next two home matches against San Francisco on Sept. 19 and St. Mary's on Sept. 21.

The university's police department annually documents about 60,000 incidents, arrests between 800 and 900 suspects and writes about 2,500 reports. The Police Communications Center dispatches personnel to more than 50,000 calls for service each year, according to the station's website.

San Jose State Senior Director of Media Relations Michelle Smith McDonald previously told Fox News Digital that diverting the department’s resources to the volleyball team was needed due to the "attention" the team was getting. 

"The team has been a subject of significant attention, not all of it positive, and we are ensuring their security," Smith McDonald said. 

The department had to call for more backup when the team hit the road. 

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After the Spartans' homestand, a university police officer traveled with the team to its September 24 match at Fresno State. But San Jose State confirmed that it had to coordinate with Fresno State to have additional security on site for that match to back up the one traveling officer.

San Jose State then had a gap in its schedule after Boise State forfeited its game against it on Sept. 28. The University of Wyoming and Utah State also forfeited their matches against the Spartans around the same time, bringing the grand total of forfeits up to four, with each one bringing more divisive attention to the team. 

Then things were noticeably different when Slusser and her teammates arrived at Colorado State on October 3, after the threat against her life. The Spartans walked onto a court under a much heavier and more noticeable patrol by police officers.

The San Jose State University Spartans are flanked by Moby Arena security, campus police and their own private guard during an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game against the Colorado State University Rams at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

"The added protection at Colorado State was because of that DM," Slusser said, referring to the first threat against her life. 

"Especially with how much people have reached out on social media making threats and saying they want to meet up with me or Blaire and any of our teammates to confront us on this whole situation. So, I think the security is mostly just to be on the safer side of things to make sure that doesn’t happen, especially while we’re on away trips, and people think that might be their chance to do whatever they want to do in that moment."

But Slusser added that she was "not aware" of any similar threats that have been made against Fleming. The university has not confirmed or denied any alleged threats made against Fleming. Fox News Digital has reached out to Fleming through the university for comment, but has not received a response. 

Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, plays as an outside and right-side hitter on the women’s volleyball team. (San Jose State University)

Meanwhile, the agitator who made the threat against Slusser ahead of the Colorado State game has not yet been identified. 

Fox News Digital provided a series of questions to San Jose State about the measures it is taking to track down the suspects of these threats, including whether digital forensics by the university police department is being used, or whether the situation has been elevated to state or federal investigators. 

"The university has asked students and staff to share all concerning communications with UPD to be evaluated and addressed appropriately, including in conjunction with proper authorities where appropriate," said part of a statement that San Jose State provided exclusively to Fox News Digital in response to the list of questions. 

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San Jose State would not confirm any specific details of the police department’s security protocols. 

However, the university did confirm that the volleyball team will continue to get police protection for future home and away matches. 

"The safety and security of our students is our top priority. The university is providing security through the UPD both at home and on the road," the university’s statement read. 

For Slusser, that armed protection puts her at peace of mind as she maneuvers the dangers that have come with her recent decision to take a stand against transgender inclusion in women’s sports. 

"At Colorado State for our game, I was definitely looking around a lot more to make sure there was security, just because I didn’t feel safe. So, I think honestly it makes me feel better about being able to travel and show up to places, knowing there is extra security," Slusser said. "I do hope that there is kind of the same presence at our other away games this season."

San Jose State junior Brooke Slusser is from Texas and started her college career at the University of Alabama. (Courtesy of San Jose State Athletics.)

Slusser added that the police protection is only notable on game days and road trips, and that they aren’t getting any protection in their "day-to-day" routines. 

Still, if the UPD continues its protection of the team, as is expected, it will embark on a security escort that could be under a heated national spotlight later this month. 

San Jose State has a daunting road trip coming up against the University of Nevada, Reno, on October 26. It is a match that is currently scheduled to be played, but Nevada players have expressed their intent not to play that match. 

Nevada provided a statement to Fox News Digital confirming that the team’s players have approached the athletics director requesting that the game be canceled. The Nevada players themselves have spoken out about their intent to forgo participation, but the university also said that players who choose not to participate won’t face consequences for skipping it, in its statement. 

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GOP Senate candidate Sam Brown, left, poses with Nevada's Sia Liilii, center right, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, after Liillii reiterated her team's intent not to play its game against San Jose State amid an ongoing controversy over a transgender player on the team. (Sam Brown Campaign)

However, Nevada’s statement also claimed that the program could not officially forfeit the match without violating state law. The state’s constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections. 

That means Slusser, Fleming and the rest of their team could all end up having to get on a plane to Reno, in a Sun Belt battleground state just weeks before a hotly contested election where transgender inclusion in women’s sports is suddenly a red-hot issue. And there might be no opposing players to greet them on the court when they get there. 

The University of Nevada’s reported incidents of aggravated assault went from four cases on campus in 2021 to three in 2022 to five last year, according to the school’s released annual crime statistics.

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