San Jose State University (SJSU) women’s volleyball games have taken on an added element of security after threats were made against a female player who joined a lawsuit against the NCAA after her school allegedly refused to divulge that her teammate was a man.
On October 2, shortly before she left with her SJSU teammates to play Colorado State, Brooke Slusser received a terrifying warning from a teammate.
“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. “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.”
Slusser, a native of Denton, Texas, was one of the SJSU players unaware there was a man in their midst. After two years of sharing locker rooms, dressing rooms, hotel rooms, and all manner of intimate spaces with teammate Blaire Fleming, Slusser learned that Fleming was transgender, a man.
This betrayal of trust prompted Slusser to join Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA.
Slusser’s lawsuit claims Fleming’s true gender was “a well-known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone else at SJSU.”
While Slusser does not know the identity or motivation of the person who threatened her, the fact she was threatened has changed her mentality.
“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.
“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.”
The threat’s most visible result is the team’s heightened security.
When SJSU went on the road against Colorado State, the team’s first game since the threat against Slusser, there was a heavy police presence.
“The added protection at Colorado State was because of that DM,” Slusser said.
“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.”
Slusser added, “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. I do hope that there is kind of the same presence at our other away games this season.”
The school told Fox News Digital that the added security for the team would continue.
“The safety and security of our students is our top priority,” the statement read. “The university is providing security through the UPD both at home and on the road.”
All eyes are focused on SJSU’s scheduled October 26 match against the University of Nevada. Scheduled is the operative word because the Nevada players are currently at odds with their own school regarding whether they will play the game. After the school put out a statement saying the game would be played, Nevada’s players took a team vote saying they refused to play against a transgender opponent.
The school then disregarded the player vote and doubled down on their demand that the game be played. However, Nevada team captain Sia Liillii emphasized that the players would have “integrity” and hold their ground.
“I know what our team is going to do, and we are going to have integrity,” Liillii said. “I think this is the toughest thing our team has gone through, but I’m just glad I have so many brave young women behind me, and I get to be the captain of this team.”