Oberlin College’s head women’s lacrosse coach, Kim Russell, has been “reassigned” to a desk job after she spoke out against allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports, the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) reported.
Russell shared a post on social media praising Emma Weyant as the “real winner” when Weyant placed second after transgender athlete Lia Thomas during the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championship. Two weeks after the IWF released a documentary about Oberlin’s response to her post, the college has given her a new role as an “Employee Wellness Project Manager,” where she will have virtually no contact with students, according to IWF. (RELATED: ‘Burned At The Stake’: College Coach Breaks Silence On Fallout After Sharing Post Critical Of Trans Athletes)
“I have been taken out of the role of coach, which is what I’ve done for 27 years,” Russell told Fox News Tuesday on “America’s Newsroom.” “I’ve been a P.E. teacher, a coach and a teacher of programs of wellness, yoga, all sorts of things, kickboxing … and [been] asked to take a role as employee wellness program manager, which would have no contact with students and be creating things – which is paperwork.”
To all of the girls & women (and men) out there who are too afraid of being canceled, I’m sorry I waited this long to speak up. The bravery of @Riley_Gaines_ & @paytonmcnabb_ has inspired me to be better. #SaveWomensSports https://t.co/00qSnwV4Yl
— Kim McGinnis Russell (@bfheartwarrior) September 10, 2023
Russell alleged in August that she was “burned at the stake” by the college for standing up for women’s rights in athletics, and that administrators and students had repeatedly attacked her for her personal opinions on biological men competing in women’s sports. Russell deplored the current state of women’s rights in the United States and said that the newer generations of women do not appreciate what older women fought for, according to the IWF.
“I am so passionate about this because the reason we have these opportunities to play and coach and to do the things we do is because of the women who came before me, who fought for Title IX, who fought for us to have these opportunities,” Russell told Fox News. “And I don’t think that the younger generation even understands that these opportunities weren’t here years ago.”
“Hearing Kim Russell is no longer allowed to interact with students is so disappointing,” Paula Scanlan, a former teammate of Lia Thomas and a spokeswoman for the IWF, told the IWF. “It’s unbelievable that saying women’s sports are for females only would lead Oberlin College to take such an extreme step — it’s a reprimand and punishment.”
Russell and Oberlin College did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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