How a Christian university's volleyball team violated new Kansas transgender athlete ban

A private Christian university appears to have been the first to violate a new Kansas law banning transgender athletes from girl's and women's sports.

Ottawa University officials say the school's women's volleyball team didn't intend to violate the new Kansas law when a transgender athlete was on the roster for an August match. The athlete was later removed from the roster after an inquiry by a state legislator, but officials say it was due to a separate eligibility issue discovered when checking how the trans athlete ban applied.

"One of the games in which she was on the roster was a Junior Varsity 2 match with a Kansas community college opponent, which resulted in an unintentional violation of the Kansas Fairness in Women's Sports Act," Ottawa University Kansas president Reggies Wenyika told The Topeka Capital-Journal.

The transgender athlete wasn't allowed to participate on the team after an unrelated eligibility issue was discovered.

"OU uncovered a separate issue with the student's eligibility, making the student ineligible for participation," Wenyika said. "Since that time, the student has not been on the team roster. Furthermore, we have taken additional steps to educate ourselves and our athletic staff on what we are and are not permitted to do under the new law."

The incident appears to be the first reported violation of the House Bill 2238, dubbed by supporters as the Fairness in Women's Sports Act. The law was enacted by the Republican-led Legislature along a largely party line vote over the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

Violation detailed in email to Kansas AG Kris Kobach

The Capital-Journal found out about the violation through an email from Wenyika to Rep. Carrie Barth, R-Baldwin City, who forwarded the email to Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach's private email.

The email was among 940 pages of documents turned over to the newspaper in response to an open records request for emails to or from Kobach's private email address that were in the possession of the attorney general's office.

Barth, who has a daughter who is a freshman on Ottawa's women's volleyball team, declined to comment.

"I really would rather not talk about it," she said, referring questions to the university.

Barth did talk about it in her Aug. 31 email to Kobach, in which she touted record-setting attendance at a University of Nebraska volleyball match, thanked the attorney general for a call earlier that day and forwarded him Wenyika's email from that same morning.

"Based on his email it appears that they are trying to do the right thing and at this time I don't see any action needed unless something changes," Barth said. "The one thing that does conserve [sic] me is that he references Title IX which is to protect women's rights and women's sports."

It is unclear what action the attorney general could take. The law doesn't bestow any enforcement power on the attorney general.

"Legislators seek the Attorney General's advice on legal issues all of the time independent of the agency's enforcement responsibilities," Charles Dalton, Kobach's chief of staff, told The Capital-Journal. "When duly elected representatives of the people reach out to our office, we respond."

Under the law's enforcement provisions, violations can turn into lawsuits filed by affected students and public schools. But the language of the law appears to only authorize lawsuits against offending public schools and other governmental entities; it does not appear to authorize lawsuits against private universities.

Ottawa University is a private, Christian university affiliated with the American Baptist Churches in the USA. Its main campus in Ottawa.

Student removed from roster for eligibility requirements at Ottawa

Wenyika's email indicates that Barth had first inquired with Matt Lindsey, president of the Kansas Independent College Association, about the volleyball player. Wenyika said there were no eligibility issues with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

More: Why is Kris Kobach using a private email account for work as Kansas attorney general?

"However, there are some elements of Ottawa University's internal student athlete eligibility requirements that had not been completed," he said in the email to Barth, Lindsey, Ottawa University chancellor Bill Tsutsui and Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays. "As such, the student athlete in question will not be practicing or participating with the team until a determination has been made concerning those requirements in question."

Tsutsui told The Capital-Journal that the separate eligibility issue under university policy was discovered "in the course of determining how the Kansas Fairness in Women's Sports Act applied to private institutions." The student's removal from the roster "was based on that discovery," he said, and not on the trans athlete law.

The student remained off the roster as of when the women's volleyball season ended.

Were the athlete allowed to rejoin the team, the athlete would apparently be allowed to participate in some matches but not others. Wenyika indicated that under the new law, a transgender girl or woman at a private institution could compete against other in-state private schools as well as public or private institutions from other states. But the athlete would be banned from competing against in-state public schools.

But it may not be that simple.

"Each student's eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis," Tsutsui said. "Since this student did not meet our internal requirements, the Act did not become a factor in determining their eligibility and we'll not offer speculation on how it might have applied."

More: Here's what we found in Kris Kobach's private emails at Kansas Attorney General's Office

The Ottawa University Braves policy on transgender student athlete participation comes from the NAIA handbook. It allows a male-to-female trans athlete who is taking medically prescribed hormone treatment as part of a gender transition to compete on a women's team after one year of treatment. The policy only applies to postseason play.

"OU has taken the approach to the issue of transgender athletes' participation in any sport by being transparent with open communication regarding state law and University policy with the OU Board, staff, students, and prospective student-athletes," Wenyika told The Capital Journal. "The University is following legal developments closely and will continue to follow the law as it stands and develops in the future.

"Although NAIA transgender athlete participation policy conflicts in some places with Kansas Law, OU recognizes that state law precedes NAIA rules. Also, because the NAIA transgender athlete policy does not regulate regular season play or participation, that policy did not play any part in OU's determinations of this situation."

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Ottawa University volleyball team violated Kansas trans athlete ban