Judge says Utah high schools can’t restrict play of international students
Jan 2, 2025, 7:22 PM | Updated: Jan 3, 2025, 5:28 pm
FILE — Summer preparation for high school sports is important for student athletes. (KSL TV)
(KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY — Foreign exchange students can’t be excluded from participating in high school sports based on the type of visa they use to attend Utah schools, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby issued a preliminary injunction that forbids the Utah High School Activities Association from enforcing a rule that restricts how F1 visa holders can participate in prep sports. That means that students currently enrolled in Utah schools on F1 visas can now play varsity sports without limitations until the case is concluded.
Officials have never released a total number of students affected by the rule, but Juan Diego Catholic High School told KSL there were 28 students attending the school this fall on F1 visas. Several students opted to leave the school or the state rather than accept the restrictions, school officials said.
Association attorney Mark Van Wagoner asserted in court hearings that the association was trying to deal with one of the most insidious problems it faces — recruiting of international student-athletes. In an effort to do that, the association amended its constitution in May of 2024 with a rule that restricted how F1 visa holders could participate in sanctioned activities and athletics.
The rule said schools could allow F1 visa holders to participate in varsity sports, but it would make the entire team ineligible for post-season play — or schools could allow F1 visa holders to play at lower levels, like junior varsity levels, and the team would remain eligible for post-season competition. A third option was to go independent, which Layton Christian Academy did in basketball.
“The court’s order provides F-1 visa students throughout Utah with relief from the UHSAA’s discriminatory rule and ensures them an equal opportunity to compete in varsity sports on the same basis as all other students,” plaintiff’s attorney David Jordan said in a statement.
“We’re disappointed and evaluating our options,” Van Wagoner said of the ruling.
A yearlong investigation into recruiting allegations surrounding the use of F1 visas continues, and a hearing alleging a number of violations by Juan Diego is scheduled for Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. Van Wagoner said the preliminary injunction will have no bearing on the investigation or future hearings.
In late September, a senior football player from Australia, Zac Szymankowski, who was attending Juan Diego on an F1 visa, sued on the basis that the rule was inherently discriminatory because he claimed it was based on his nationality.
Szymankowski missed most of his senior season, but won a temporary restraining order in October, after a hearing that was presided over by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell because Shelby had a conflict when it was scheduled. But that temporary reprieve only applied to Szymankowski. Jordan told a judge that his firm agreed to take the case pro bono, after another student’s mother referred the aspiring kicker to him.
In November’s hearing with Shelby, Jordan asked for a preliminary injunction against the Utah High School Activities Association on behalf of all F1 visa holders. A hearing was held in which another student, 17-year-old Felipe Quintero Uribe, who plays basketball and attends St. Joseph Catholic High School, was added as a second plaintiff. His mother was added as a plaintiff as well.
Shelby presided over the one-day hearing but took more than a month to issue his decision to grant the preliminary injunction. His written decision echoed the reasoning Campbell used to conclude that the students would be harmed if the association is allowed to enforce a rule that will likely be found to be discriminatory.
“To begin, the court finds plaintiffs have shown they are substantially likely to succeed on both their equal protection and supremacy clause claims,” Shelby wrote. “Judge Campbell found Szymakowski was substantially likely to succeed on the merits of his Equal Protection Clause claim based on her conclusions that UHSAA is a state actor, the Student Visa Eligibility Rule treated Szymakowski differently based on his alienage — alienage classifications are unlawful unless they satisfy strict scrutiny — and UHSAA could not show the Student Visa Eligibility Rule survived any form of heightened scrutiny.”
Both Shelby and Campbell said the association can remedy its concerns, which are that these international students are being recruited for athletic purposes, being offered scholarships and are creating an unfair advantage for private schools, which most F1 visa holders attend as it allows students to choose where they go to school, who their host family is, and they can attend multiple years.
Shelby quoted Campbell’s decision to grant the temporary restraining order, which said, “Plaintiffs simply ask to be treated the same as nonforeign students, and the public interest is best served by a decision that upholds the equal protection of the laws to all persons who are lawfully within the state’s jurisdiction.”
