San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Friday that the school and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government to challenge the U.S. Department of Education's recent determination that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of a transgender volleyball player. The department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced at the end of January that an investigation into the university for its handling of a trans athlete and other players concluded that the school violated Title IX and gave the school an ultimatum to resolve the violation by agreeing to a series of conditions. But now, instead of complying like the University of Pennsylvania did last summer related to its handling of trans swimmer Lia Thomas, SJSU and CSU are suing to prevent potential federal funding cuts. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM"Because we believe OCR’s findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a lawsuit today against the federal government to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding," Teniente-Matson said Friday."This is not a step we take lightly. However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so."The school is also requesting that OCR rescind its findings and close its investigation. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Education for a response. Teniente-Matson affirmed the university's commitment to defending the LGBTQ community in the announcement."Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years, remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community," the president said. "We’ve heard the fear and anxiety that it has created and recognize that waiting for the university’s response has been difficult at a time already filled with uncertainty." The university and its volleyball program were thrust into the national spotlight in 2024 after it was revealed the team rostered trans athlete Blaire Fleming since 2022. Former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit and led her own, alleging she was never told Fleming was a biological male when she joined the team and shared bedrooms and changing spaces with Fleming without that knowledge.Slusser has responded to SJSU and CSU's decision to sue in a statement to Fox News Digital. "It makes me so mad that SJSU still refuses to see that everything they did is wrong. I think they’re just too scared to admit it and face the repercussions of their actions!" Slusser said.Slusser made a public statement on X, calling the decision "absurd." 'HORRIBLE' MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDALSeven matches, including a conference semifinal, were forfeited to SJSU in 2024 during the controversy. Among the department's findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. The department claims "SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering' the male athlete in online videos and interviews."Slusser alleged in her November 2024 lawsuit against the Mountain West that she and former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose were made aware of a meeting between Fleming and Colorado State women's volleyball player Malaya Jones on Oct. 2, 2024, during which Fleming discussed a plan with Jones to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match the following night.A federal judge made a ruling in that lawsuit's motion to dismiss on Tuesday. Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs' charges against the Mountain West Conference but did not dismiss charges of Title IX violations against the CSU system. Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those charges until after a decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected in June."The Motion to Strike Class Allegations is denied," Crews wrote in his decision. "What remains of the Amended Complaint is Plaintiffs’ Title IX claims for damages against the CSU Board... So the Court defers ruling on the Title IX damages claims until after the Supreme Court has issued its ruling in B.P.J."The CSU provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to Crews' ruling. "CSU is pleased with the court’s ruling. SJSU has complied with Title IX and all applicable law, and it will continue to do so," the statement said.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Cleanliness may soon come at a price for Southwest travelers — and passengers are blasting the proposed policy.The Dallas-based airline is considering bringing in cabin cleaners between flights to clean only the premium extra legroom seat areas of the aircraft, according to reports. Coach cabins will reportedly not receive the same deluxe treatment.PASSENGERS RIP AIRLINE FOR NEW SEATING POLICY: ‘IT IS AS BAD AS EVERYONE IS SAYING'"Southwest Airlines flight attendants tidy every aircraft between every flight today," a Southwest spokesperson told Fox News Digital Friday when asked about the reports.  "That will continue, and in addition, we are looking at potentially bringing in additional cleaners when needed, at certain airports to supplement — not replace — our standard cleaning efforts.""We will continue to make sure our aircraft are ready for every customer, regardless of where their seats are on the plane," the spokesperson added.An airline flight attendants union board member posted a since-deleted video for crew members, saying he was concerned about the experiment the airline was trying, in which premium cabins would be cleaned between every flight — but not the whole aircraft.PASSENGERS REFUSING TO WEAR HEADPHONES ON FLIGHTS COULD BE KICKED OFF AIRCRAFT: ‘iT’S ABOUT TIME'The individual claimed he got a memo from Southwest on Tuesday about the new cleaning experiment.He reportedly compared the proposed cleaning change to the upper class on the Titanic "having cigars and sipping brandy" — while passengers below didn't get their seats cleaned. "So up front, you’ve got these super clean airplanes. In the back, you’ve got half-hearted, tidied airplanes. The passengers are going to come on board. They’re going to see it," he said, according to the blog "View from the Wing.""When passengers see what’s going on, they’re going to be very upset," he reportedly said.Southwest passengers took to Facebook and X to voice their frustrations about the potential policy."Southwest Airlines [is] only gonna clean your seat if it smells like money," wrote an angry X user. "The rest of you peasants can sit in the germ-infested filth left behind by the rest of the poor people.""Southwest Airlines has turned into public transit. Dirty and expensive," another person said, slamming the company.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERFacebook users felt differently."Bring your own wipes if you really want a clean seat," said one person. "People need to stop leaving a mess for the flight attendants to clean up."Another Facebook user agreed, saying, "I don’t ever trust anyone to clean my seat the way I want anyway. I always carry wipes to wipe everything down right as I sit down so I can try to keep germs at bay."Said yet another Facebook user, "They pick up loose trash and lay the seat belts in the seats. I've sat down plenty of times with snack crumbs all around my feet."CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESEtiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore of Florida said every airline passenger should be courteous."Everyone should clean up after themselves, regardless of whether the cleaning crew comes in or not," she told Fox News Digital. "As a passenger, you should pack your manners — and you should clean up your surrounding area."Whitmore, who worked as a flight attendant for years, said it is generally the flight attendants' job to collect garbage throughout the flight — not the responsibility of a cleaning crew.TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ"I used to see this all the time," she said. "Passengers would change their baby's diaper on the seat. Then they might leave a dirty diaper on the seat."Ultimately, the potential new cleaning policy from Southwest could affect flight attendants more than passengers."After everybody deplanes the flight, attendants will go through the cabin with one final sweep," Whitmore said."Personally, I'd be more upset if I were a flight attendant, not a passenger," she added.This is the second time in a week Southwest has taken some heat from passengers.The airline was slammed after it made a major process change over a month ago. The airline transitioned Jan. 27 from an open seating policy — so passengers now must select their seats or be assigned specific spots.Passengers say they have issues reading the seat numbers, run into snags with the boarding flow and are unable to spread out on the plane."We’re always looking for ways to improve our customer experience, to continue delivering the seamless and reliable travel journey that customers expect from Southwest," a company spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.Fox News Digital's Ashley J. DiMella contributed reporting.

The U.S. military carried out a targeted strike Friday against a narco-terrorist network in Ecuador, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said.SOUTHCOM said the joint U.S.-Ecuadorian operation involved lethal kinetic action against suspected designated terrorist organizations in the country."At the order of @SecWar, #SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan directed the joint force to support Ecuadorian forces conducing lethal kinetic operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations within Ecuador March 6," SOUTHCOM posted on X.Donovan said in a statement that the U.S. was "advancing alongside our partners in the fight against narco-terrorism."US DESIGNATES COLOMBIA'S CLAN DEL GOLFO AS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, CITING NARCOTICS TRAFFICKING"I congratulate our joint forces and the Ecuadorian armed forces for the successful operation against narco-terrorists in Ecuador," he said. "This collaborative and decisive action is a strategic success for all nations in the Western Hemisphere committed to disrupting and defeating narco-terrorism."It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties from the operation.Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared a video of the strike on X, writing, "Yes — as @POTUS has said — we are bombing narco-terrorists on land as well. Thank you to our partners in Ecuador. Much more to come from @Southcom."CRUZ WARNED MEXICO OFFICIALS 'PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS GOING TO' ACT IF THEY DIDN'T FIGHT CARTELSPentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that the War Department is "uniting partners across the Western Hemisphere to detect, disrupt and destroy designated terrorist organizations that fuel violence and corruption."Parnell said Ecuador requested that the War Department execute targeted action "to advance our shared objective of dismantling narco-terrorist networks.""This operation demonstrates the power of coordinated action and sends a clear message: Narco-terrorist networks will not find refuge in our hemisphere," he said.US FORCES STRIKE VESSEL ALLEGEDLY TIED TO NARCO-TERROR GROUP KILLING 2 AS CREWS SEARCH FOR LONE SURVIVORParnell added that the U.S. "remains steadfast in supporting nations that stand against narco-terrorism.""Together, we will dismantle trafficking and corruption networks, hold these organizations accountable, and restore peace through strength," he said.Parnell said the operation targeted a narco-terrorist supply complex, "disrupting their operations and logistics."He commended the Ecuadorian government and the country’s defense and security forces for their partnership in the operation.The strike follows joint operations launched earlier this week by U.S. and Ecuadorian forces targeting suspected narco-terrorists in Ecuador, according to U.S. Southern Command.SOUTHCOM said it was taking "decisive action" against designated terrorist organizations.Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said the United States "successfully concluded a joint operation" with Europol and Ecuadorian authorities dismantling the Hernán Ruilova Barzola transnational drug trafficking organization, which it said is linked to the Los Lobos cartel.The U.S. has conducted at least 43 strikes targeting suspected drug-trafficking operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of 150 people.

President Donald Trump hosted a college sports roundtable Friday to examine solutions to key challenges, including NCAA authority; name, image and likeness (NIL) issues; collective bargaining; and governance concerns. Athletic officials in attendance included NCAA President Charlie Baker, former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, OutKick founder Clay Travis, New York Yankees President Randy Levine and each of the Power Four commissioners, among others."This is the future, I think, beyond college sports. This is the future of colleges," Trump said to kick off the roundtable. "The amount of money being spent and lost by otherwise very successful schools is astounding just in a short period of time. It's only going to get worse. We have to save college sports, and, I believe, colleges.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM "Crazy things are happening. ... We have a seven-year freshman. We're seeing things we've never seen before. College players not wanting to go pro because they make more money in college," he added.Trump said there has been an "inability to set rules," noting that different states have different NIL laws, prompting another challenge for college sports."If Congress doesn't take action fast, it could destroy college sports," Trump said.Trump ripped "one judge who knew nothing about sports, knew nothing about football, knew nothing about Olympics, knew nothing about anything, just decided everything was unconstitutional." He was likely referring to Judge Claudia Wilken, who ruled in 2019 that the NCAA’s limits on education-related benefits violated antitrust law."It's crazy. Only Congress can deliver a permanent fix," Trump said.Trump noted he was not aiming to revert to athletes not being paid."Although, not the worst idea," he admitted. "But I think a lot of people would overrule me on that."Later on, Trump said he wanted to "just go back to what you had, let some judge tell you can't do it, you appeal, and you win at some point. Because what you had — what a great system. Everybody was happy."Saban said helping athletes become more successful on a personal level has become "impossible" in today's era."People, instead of making decisions about creating value for their future, they were making decisions about how much money could they make at whichever school they can go to or transfer to," Saban said. "I think we need to come up with a system, and, obviously, we have to do it with the president's leadership and also with Congress probably ... to allow student-athletes in all sports to enhance their quality of life while going to college but still provide opportunity to advance themselves beyond their athletic career, which is what the philosophy of college athletes and getting a college education has always been about."Trump has been adamant about "saving college sports," even signing an executive order setting new restrictions on payments to college athletes in July.The president's order prohibits athletes from receiving pay-to-play payments from third-party sources. However, the order did not impose any restrictions on NIL payments to college athletes by third-party sources. It also demands that schools account for preserving resources for the non-revenue sports. The SCORE Act was at the forefront of the roundtable. It was scheduled to be voted on in December but the vote was canceled shortly before. The White House endorsed the act, but three Republicans — Byron Donalds of Florida, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy of Texas — voted with Democrats not to bring the act to the floor. Democrats have largely opposed the bill, urging members of the House to vote against it.The SCORE Act would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the NCAA from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools. It prohibits schools from using student fees to fund NIL payments.US GOLD MEDALIST AMBER GLENN SAYS SHE WOULD DECLINE WHITE HOUSE INVITATIONRep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., said the act "hurts" women's sports, and strengthening Title IX "has to be part of the SCORE Act." She also said the SCORE Act "represented a consolidation of what we have today, which is the SEC and the Big Ten" getting a boatload of the money college athletics garners.Trahan did concur that "maybe the SCORE Act is the right vehicle we continue to tweak," showing some confidence in it and expressing her desire to work with those at the roundtable to make it successful. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said that women's sports would be "protected," while Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, said 56% of the ACC's athletic scholarships have gone to women since the House case.Tim Pernetti, commissioner of the American Conference, said the SCORE Act doesn't fix college athletics' "economic crisis." Meyer admitted he did not like how collectives were still included in the SCORE Act, calling it "cheating.""I think if the collective goes away, college sports gets better immediately," Meyer said.After deliberations, Trump said he'd write an executive order "based on great common sense.""It's gonna let colleges survive and players survive and let a lot of people be very, very happy," Trump said.A month before Trump's order, Wilken approved a settlement between the NCAA, its most powerful conferences and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The deal means the NCAA will pay close to $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to college athletes who competed from 2016 to 2025. The settlement also allows for college programs to pay athletes directly.Fox News' Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter