Virginia AG caught one woke college in a scheme that could cost them millions

Campuses have been under attack by the leftist agenda for years.

College administrators have been some of the worst bullies forcing their woke ideology down students’ throats.

But Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares just caught one woke college in a scheme that could cost them millions.

Roanoke College forced female swimmers to compete against biological male

The transgender takeover of women’s sports reached Roanoke College in 2023 when the school allowed a biological male to compete on the women’s swimming team.

Female swimmers on the team knew this was wrong and tried to stand up for themselves.

But college administrators weren’t interested in protecting women’s rights – they were more concerned about pushing their radical agenda.

The situation got so bad that several female swimmers held a press conference in October 2023 to speak out publicly about what was happening to their team.

These brave young women described how they were pressured by coaches to support the transgender swimmer.

Team coaches actually held a meeting where the female athletes had to vote in an online poll – with the transgender swimmer sitting right there in the room – about whether to allow the biological male to stay on the team.

Talk about emotional manipulation and institutional bullying.

The vote passed, but the female swimmers later revealed they felt coerced into voting "yes" because they were afraid of being labeled as bigots or causing the transgender swimmer to harm themselves.

This is exactly the kind of psychological warfare that woke administrators use to silence anyone who dares to speak up for common sense.

Virginia AG’s investigation exposes the truth about institutional discrimination

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares decided to launch an official investigation into what really happened at Roanoke College.

And what he found was exactly what you’d expect from a woke institution that puts ideology ahead of protecting women.

Miyares concluded that Roanoke College "denied the female swimmers accommodations, advantages, and privileges on the basis of sex" and "caused the women emotional, physical, and dignitary harms."¹

But it gets worse.

The investigation found that after the female swimmers went public with their concerns, the college retaliated against them.

Here’s how vindictive these administrators really are.

The Attorney General’s findings revealed that six female swimmers had submitted applications for overseas study programs – including trips to Japan and Greece – just before going public with their concerns.

What happened next exposes the true character of these woke bullies.

After the swimmers held their press conference, professors suddenly decided those same applications weren’t good enough and rejected them all.

Coincidence? Hardly.

This is classic institutional retaliation – punish anyone who dares to challenge the woke agenda.

Miyares determined that Roanoke College violated the Virginia Human Rights Act by forcing these young women to compete against a biological male with all the physical advantages that come from male puberty.

Woke college could face massive financial damages

Here’s where this story gets really interesting.

Miyares didn’t just issue a strongly worded letter and call it a day.

His findings suggest that the female swimmers who were discriminated against are eligible to seek financial damages from Roanoke College because the school’s policy violated Virginia state law.

"A private complainant who has received a notice of right to file a civil action may file a civil action under the Act for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief," the Attorney General’s report stated.²

Think about that for a second.

This could be the first time in U.S. history that a college or university has to pay financial damages to female athletes for putting a biological male on their women’s sports team.

Every woke administrator pushing transgender ideology should be paying attention to what happens next.

Because if these female swimmers successfully sue Roanoke College and win damages, it’s going to change the entire game.

Suddenly, colleges won’t just face bad publicity for discriminating against female athletes – they’ll face real financial consequences that could run into the millions.

The mother of a swimmer delivers emotional testimony

At Miyares’ press conference on Monday, Katie Mullens – the mother of former Roanoke swim team captain Lily Mullens – delivered a statement written by her daughter.

And what she read should make every parent in America furious about what woke colleges are doing to our kids.

"Instead of focusing on training and their studies, they would be entering into a battle against their own school and the NCAA for their basic rights to compete fairly against other female swimmers and to speak freely in defense of their own fair treatment," Katie Mullens said, becoming visibly emotional.³

"What followed was a growing ordeal that took a tremendous toll on my mental health, my physical well-being and my emotional strength. My teammates and I faced anxieties, sleepless nights and a sense of defeat and abandonment."⁴

Let that sink in.

These young women – who should have been focused on their education and athletic competition – instead had to wage war against their own college just to defend their basic rights as female athletes.

They suffered mental and physical health problems because woke administrators decided transgender ideology was more important than protecting women.

And when they finally found the courage to speak out, the college punished them by denying their study abroad applications.

This is what institutional bullying looks like in 2025.

Virginia AG makes crystal clear statement about biological reality

Attorney General Miyares didn’t mince words about the fundamental issue at stake here.

"Men and women in competitive sports are separated for a reason," Miyares said at his press conference. "A male who has undergone puberty has a significant undeniable athletic advantage over females that no intervention can undo."⁵

What a concept – a government official willing to state basic biological facts.

Miyares explained that "the women’s swim team endured, and is still enduring, emotional, physical and dignitary harm because of Roanoke College’s failure to follow the law."⁶

This is exactly the kind of leadership that parents and female athletes have been desperately waiting for.

Someone in a position of authority who’s willing to stand up to the woke mob and defend women’s rights.

The timing of this investigation couldn’t be better.

President Trump has already signed executive orders to end the participation of biological males in women’s sports, and state attorneys general like Miyares are backing him up with real legal consequences for institutions that continue to discriminate against women.

The broader implications for the war on women’s sports

This Roanoke College case is part of a much larger legal battle happening across the country.

Seven of the Roanoke swimmers have joined the current lawsuit against the NCAA led by Riley Gaines and funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.⁷

They’re citing their 2023 experience as evidence of how transgender policies harm female athletes.

The legal strategy is brilliant – instead of just arguing about fairness in the abstract, these lawsuits are documenting actual harm suffered by real women.

And now they have an official state investigation backing up their claims.

Multiple Roanoke swimmers even joined President Trump at a rally in Salem, Virginia during his campaign to share their stories and advocate for protecting women’s sports.⁸

These young women went from being silenced and punished by their own college to standing on stage with the President of the United States as he promised to restore sanity to women’s athletics.

The contrast couldn’t be more stark.

Woke college administrators tried to destroy these swimmers for defending their rights.

But these brave young women refused to be intimidated, and now they’re helping lead a national movement to save women’s sports.

And institutions like Roanoke College that thought they could bully female athletes into submission are about to discover that there are real consequences for discriminating against women.

The next few months are going to be very interesting as we see whether these swimmers pursue the financial damages that Virginia’s Attorney General says they’re entitled to seek.

If they do – and if they win – it’s going to send shockwaves through every college and university in America that’s still forcing female athletes to compete against biological males.

The message will be crystal clear: discriminate against women at your own financial peril.

¹ Jackson Thompson and Ryan Gaydos, "Virginia AG’s findings from investigation into Roanoke College trans swimmer incident released by complainants," Fox News, August 25, 2025.

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.