SALEM, Va. (WFXR) — Controversy has surrounded the Roanoke College campus and the school’s women’s swim team as transgender issues remain a huge topic in sports.
On Oct. 5, several members of the Roanoke Women’s Swim Team held a press conference at the Hotel Roanoke, to speak about the future of women’s sports at the college.
“Instead of being silent we are courageously sharing our story,” said a Roanoke College Swim Team member.
According to the release, swim team members planned to call on the NCAA to make rule changes that prioritize fairness and equal opportunity for women. Swimmers are also calling on Virginia lawmakers to pass legislation to protect the integrity of women’s sports and respond to efforts to manipulate and intimidate them into silence.
However, some students didn’t share the same concerns.
“I don’t play sports, I used to but I don’t see a problem with it. If they want to join why not let them join,” said Ryley Hicks a Roanoke College student.
In a statement, Roanoke College said leadership was made aware that a transgender student had requested permission to swim with the women’s swim team. The student had competed on the men’s swim team as a first-year student. They then took a year off and rejoined the season this year.
The college said that this was the first time they experienced this situation, and as a result, launched an administration process that aided officials in making a decision.
In the statement, Roanoke College said their process included an analysis of the NCAA policy on transgender student participation in athletics, which includes:
Like the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the updated NCAA policy calls for transgender student-athlete participation for each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport.
However, since the policies update, the college says it has been confusing and has contradictory guidelines for the schools to navigate.
In a meeting on Oct. 3, the Roanoke College Board of Trustees discussed the college’s policy and future stance. However, before the meeting, officials learned the student withdrew their request to compete on the women’s swim team.
Roanoke College shared it will continue to follow the NCAA policy of the national governing body of each sport regarding student-athlete participation eligibility.
“In making this decision, the focus of senior administration and the board of trustees was on maintaining fairness in competition and protecting the integrity of all athletics at Roanoke College,” said Roanoke College President Frank Shushok Jr. “We remain committed to supporting our LGBTQ+ community and our student-athletes, all of whom are valued members of our vibrant community.”
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin also commented on the recent incident on the social media platform “X,” formally known as “Twitter.”
In Virginia, we are committed to fairness in women’s sports. I stand with the Roanoke College Swimmers in their efforts to seek an even playing field. Their request is reasonable, it’s common sense,”
said Gov. Youngkin.
LGBTQ+ and support groups from the Roanoke area have issued an email response expressing their support for the transgender community.
This is a developing story. WFXR News has a crew at the press conference and will update this story as information is released.
