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From left: Donald Trump and Lia Thomas
This came in a settlement with Donald Trump's Department of Education.
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports and to strip alum Lia Thomas, a trans woman, of her swimming titles in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education.
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Earlier this year, the Department of Education ordered UPenn to take these actions or face a loss of federal funding.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a statement Tuesday saying its investigation “found UPenn violated Title IX by allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.” Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bans sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs.
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“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release. “Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation. The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law.”
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“This is a complex issue, and I am pleased that we were able to reach a resolution through the standard OCR process for concluding Title IX investigations,” said a statement from J. Larry Jameson, president of the University of Pennsylvania.
He said UPenn has never had its own rules on trans participation but followed those of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which formerly allowed trans women to compete in women’s sports under specific circumstances but this year barred them in keeping with a Trump executive order.
Thomas became the first known trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship when she won the 500-yard freestyle at the women’s national competition in 2022. She has since graduated. UPenn will review the swimming records from the 2021-2022 season and will determine who would hold records under the current policy.
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