U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday that says the UHSAA can’t enforce its foreign-student eligibility rules that forbids F-1 visa students from participating in varsity sports.
Back in October, a preliminary injunction was granted to Juan Diego High senior kicker Zac Szymankowski, but the injunction only applied to him. Thursday’s ruling now applies to all F-1 visa students, and will remain in place until the resolution of the case.
The UHSAA released the following statement after the decision.
“While we respect the Court’s decision, we are disappointed by the outcome. The Association is currently reviewing the ruling and evaluating next steps.”
In a UHSAA Board of Trustees meeting last month, Judge High principal Patrick Lambert — who is the private school representative on the board — suggested that the UHSAA begin exploring changes to the F-1 visa rules in light of the October preliminary injunction ruling. The board agreed to table discussions until Shelby’s final preliminary injunction ruling.
Shelby stated in his ruling published on Thursday the UHSAA’s F-1 visa rule would likely be deemed discriminatory and violate equal protection and supremacy clause claims in future lawsuits.
Thursday’s ruling means that student-athletes like St. Joseph senior Daniel Fontes, who is from Brazil, are once again eligible to play in varsity sports and have their teams still be eligible for postseason play. Fontes has been a student-athlete in Utah since his freshman year and is currently wrestling on St. Joseph’s junior varsity wrestling team, but Thursday’s ruling means he can start wrestling on the varsity squad.
Assuming nothing changes between now and March, he’ll be eligible to play varsity soccer as well. He was a second-team all-state soccer player last year. He wasn’t eligible to play during the recent football season.
“It is great that we got the attention that we needed in the case and it was clear for the judges how unfair and nonsense this rule was. There are many students who come here for the opportunity of studying abroad and don’t even think about doing sports,” Fontes said in a statement on Friday from Brazil while back home for the holidays.
“I have found myself trying new sports since I have gotten here like football and wrestling, and found passion in those sports but unfortunately we don’t have that many students to afford a JV team, which took many opportunities from me and others to make something out of it. Thankfully the injunction happened and us international students will have the same rights as we deserve.”
During a UHSAA Executive Committee meeting back in May when the rule was first being voted on, he spoke in front the committee imploring them not to ban F-1 visa students from varsity sports. He spoke about the positive experiences sports have provided him during his time in the United States and it seemed unfair to take that away.
The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Jan. 23. The UHSAA Executive Committee meets the week prior, and in both meetings the future of the F-1 visa eligibility rule will inevitably be discussed.