On August 25, at 10:30 am, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced the results of his investigation into allegations that Roanoke officials abused members of the women’s 2023-24 swim team.
Around twenty people attended, including five Roanoke County elected officials, local media, members of Miyares’ office and his campaign staff. The Roanoke college administration was not present.
Bill Bock (an attorney representing two members of the swimming team) opened the conference with a statement about the injustices that the female swimmers have faced. Publicly available data shows that 54.4% (or about 54,000) of Roanoke’s full-time student body is female. 58% of the varsity roster spots are held by male teams at Roanoke. This means that men at Roanoke have over one hundred more varsity athletic roster spots than female.
Bock said that two team members “filed discrimination complaints with the Virginia Attorney-General because in 2023 Roanoke had far fewer varsity roster spots for men than women, and that year Roanoke actively supported an ex-swimmer from the (…) women’s swimming team moving to the women’s swim squad, simply because this man claimed a gender identity as a woman.
This action by Roanoke took the already existing sexism in Roanoke’s athletic program, to a new level. The male swimmer would not only take the roster spot for the women’s team but he would also have undeniable performance advantages which would prevent female athletes from competing fairly.
In October 2023, women swimmers sought relief from school officials. They then went public and held a press conference that was covered by worldwide. Bock says that instead of supporting these lady athletes, the school’s top brass doubled-down and started a witch hunt.
Bock: For standing up against the Roanoke college administration and Board of Trustees and taking a stand in public for women’s right, the Roanoke Women’s Swimmers paid a high price. The school permitted a two-year ongoing campaign of hostility against these young women, which included direct retaliation (…), and depriving them educational opportunities (…) that they were qualified for.
It is difficult to imagine a more reprehensible conduct from an institution which claims to support ideals of academic freedom and fairness, and diversity of thought.
Bock said that former team captain Lily Mullens was one of his claimants, who agreed to be publicly named, and asked the Attorney General to publish the findings of his investigation.
You can find the 46-page report of the Office of the Attorney General at the bottom of .
Bock called it a “landmark victory in the legal arena for women college athletes.”
Bock said: “First, Attorney-General Miyares found that policies allowing men to replace women on women’s sports teams in college are illegal and constitute sexism.
“Second,” Miyares found, “that Lily Mullens’ and her teammates’ injuries were caused by Roanoke college’s sexism and they are entitled to seek monetary damages from Roanoke.
“Third and perhaps the most shamefully for Roanoke, Miyres found that evidence supported a finding of retaliation against Roanoke’s own students and women athletes simply because these young women bravely stood up to their legal rights.”
After Bock’s eight-minute speech, Attorney General Miyares stepped up to the podium and launched a scathing eight-minute tirade of accusations at the school administration. He said, “Sports are by nature something that unites us, but they also teach us many life skills.” They have demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills and courage when faced with (…) hostility.
Miyares added: “Following a thorough investigation by my Office of Civil Rights we found that Roanoke college has violated the Virginia Human Rights Act as well as Title IX, by discriminating and retaliating against student athletes on the basis of gender.
In August 2023, Roanoke told their women’s swimming team that they would be adding a male biological to the team. (…) The female swimmers all objected, citing the fairness of competition.
In the weeks that followed, the male swimmer went onto dominate the times in the swimming pool and also skipped practice without consequence, a privilege no other women were afforded.
These brave female swimmers were demoralized by the disparities, expectations and treatment they received. They met repeatedly the athletic director (…) as well as wrote letters to their college president.
” Roanoke college ignored the objections and insisted that the male be kept on the women’s team. After he left the women’s team they pretended to have never been on the team. But these women knew better.
Roanoke College, in response to the courage of the women’s swimming team to publicly speak out against this travesty , denied the applications of multiple female swimmers with GPAs above 4.0 to study abroad.
“Our exhaustive investigation has led my Office of Civil Rights to conclude that Roanoke college denied the female swimmers the privileges given to male swimmers, and retaliated by denying them their study abroad opportunity.
“These acts not only violated the Virginia Human Rights Act but also Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1973.”
Miyares said his findings were “based on the law, the proven athletic advantage of male pubescence, and also common sense”. There is a good reason why men and women are kept apart in competitive sports (…) Puberty affects male muscle mass, size and aerobic capacity.
Miyares complained that the female athletes “suffered two years of hatred for having just common sense.” Two years of hatred was inflicted on them for wanting to keep the playing field level. Two years of harassment was endured by the women for advocating and speaking up for themselves. They have received death threats, to the point that they are only allowed to travel around campus in groups.
” Roanoke college did not issue a single public statement expressing concern or support to the women. The women were left on their own.
“It is not about partisan ideology, but about fairness and common sense.
Your school failed these female athletes. You have been belittled by your classmates who bullied you and threatened you. “You have been ignored for too long.”
In conclusion, Miyares declared categorically: “Roanoke college violated the Virginia Human Rights Act (VHRA) and Title IX. (…) Because every time a boy was allowed to join the women’s squad who could not compete or win on the men’s side before has been a woman deserving of a place. (…) This is wrong.”
Miyares said that the OAG would continue to support you “where your school failed you and we will be your voice when others were cowardly enough not to give you this voice.”
Cady Mullens was invited to the podium by Miyares. She is the mother of Lily Mullens who was a former team captain. Lily could not attend the event due to her work. However, you can read Lily’s stinging remarks here.
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In , a statement released later that day by Roanoke college President Frank Shushok Jr., “categorically denied the unsubstantiated allegations that its trustees or faculty, staff or coaches violated any student’s human rights or retaliated in any way.”
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Riley Gaines, the press secretary for Roanoke’s women’s swimming team, held a press event at Hotel Roanoke in October 2023 to express their concerns. Roanoke star articles Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 summarize the statements of the swimmers.
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Miyares, Virginia’s first Hispanic Attorney General, is the son of a Cuban mother who fled communist Cuba to the USA. Miyares, a Republican, is up for re-election against his Democrat opponent, Jay Jones, of Norfolk, this fall.
