NAIA’s transgender policy sends Cal Maritime packing – The Vacaville Reporter

Cal Maritime Academy Interim President Michael J. Dumont announced Friday that the school is ending its long-standing affiliation with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the California Pacific Conference, following the association’s recent adoption of a Transgender Participation Policy.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the umbrella organization of mostly small colleges, announced a policy in April by a 20-vote vote that bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

The organization, which oversees about 83,000 athletes at schools across the country, is reportedly the first college sports organization to take the step.

The policy means that all athletes are allowed to compete in men’s sports sponsored by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, but only athletes assigned female biological sex at birth and who have not started hormone therapy are allowed to compete in women’s sports.

The policy states that a student who begins hormone therapy may participate in activities such as practices, training sessions, and team activities, but not in interscholastic competitions.

Cal Maritime didn’t feel like it.

In a letter written Friday, Dumont argues that the organization’s adoption of the Transgender Participation Policy is in direct conflict with California state law, California State University policies and university values. Should integration be approved, the integration process would begin in conjunction with the school’s departure from NAIA and Cal Pac in June.

Dumont reads the law, which is defined in Section 11135 of the Government Code, which states: “No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any characteristic listed or defined in Section 11135 of the Government Code or any other characteristic included in the hate crime prohibition set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 422.6 of the Penal Code, including immigration status, in any program or activity operated by a postsecondary educational institution that receives or benefits from state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state student financial assistance.”

Dumont also reads that “NAIA policy categorically excludes certain student-athletes from athletic competition. CSU’s Interim Non-Discrimination Policy defines ‘discrimination’ as conduct that harms a complainant based on their actual or perceived protected status within CSU’s educational programs, activities, or employment, resulting in the denial or limitation of services, benefits, or opportunities provided by CSU. As set forth in CSU’s Interim Non-Discrimination Policy, we are committed to an inclusive and equitable community that values ​​diversity and promotes mutual respect. All students and employees have the right to participate fully in CSU programs, activities, admissions, and employment, free from discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and retaliation.”

Dumont spoke with many student-athletes, coaches and Athletics staff on Thursday to inform them of the decision. They were told that the school expects the 2024-2025 intercollegiate seasons, or competitive calendars, to continue as planned for the remainder of the current school year.

“I have also reassured our student-athletes that all current athletic scholarships will be honored based on the terms of each individual scholarship,” Dumont said. “We are investigating and evaluating all alternative conference and competition options. This review will be informed by the future decisions of the CSU Board of Trustees in November regarding the integration of Cal Maritime and Cal Poly.

“There will be many opportunities in the coming months to support our student-athletes as they compete against other institutions,” Dumont said. “Please consider attending their games and competitions.”

The decision marks a complete reversal from previous positions taken three years ago. In 2021, the Times-Herald reported that transgender senior Sophia Scopazzi raised concerns about the differential treatment students were receiving based on perceived gender. Her concerns stemmed from a proclamation written that year by the Associated Students of CSU Maritime, which informed campus leaders — as outlined in Executive Order 1097 — of revised grooming standards to ensure cadets’ privacy and the removal of a gender basis for hair length, earrings, and a skin tone basis for nail polish colors.

That same week, Scopazzi was angry about a mass letter from another cadet to students and faculty at Cal Maritime, calling for the need to “recognize the difference between things that are of good quality and things that are not.” That author wrote that he “finds it sad that people today are questioning who and what they are. For example, a neutered male dog does not suddenly become a female dog because his reproductive organs have been removed. A dog cannot even decide whether he wants to be something else.”

Scopazzi, who identifies as she/her, was shocked by leadership’s response to the letter. Scopazzi said in 2021 that it makes her “uncomfortable” spending time on campus. Over the years, she has felt bullied by many students on campus, including an incident in which she claims she was called an alien from the movie “Avatar” for wearing blue nail polish — against school standards that state that nail polish should be the same as one’s skin.

“I’m tired of being written off as a human being on this planet,” Scopazzi told the Times-Herald in 2021. “Day in and day out, being belittled as a person. There is absolutely no room for sexual harassment, sexual assault or anything like that in any industry — not just the maritime industry.”

That week, then-Cal Maritime President Thomas A. Cropper wrote a letter calling the incidents “reprehensible,” but Scopazzi was angry at what she saw as Cropper’s failure to take a full stand against the language in the letter, saying she believed he was hiding behind the comment about “constitutionally protected free speech.” She was also unhappy about the lack of discipline for the person responsible for the “neutered dog” comment.