UPenn violated Title IX over transgender athlete participation, Trump administration finds
A view from the University of Pennsylvania. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education found that the University of Pennsylvania violated Title IX by allowing men to "compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities."
The administration’s statement does not name Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022 and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title that year — an award Thomas now faces losing.
What they're saying:
"Little girls who look up to Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan can find hope in today’s action – the Trump Administration will not allow male athletes to invade female private spaces or compete in female categories," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. "UPenn has a choice to make: do the right thing for its female students and come into full compliance with Title IX immediately or continue to advance an extremist political project that violates federal antidiscrimination law and puts UPenn’s federal funding at risk."
What is Title IX?
Title IX is best known for its role in gender equity in athletics and sexual harassment on campuses, but the landmark U.S. law covers a wide variety of topics.
The other side:
Penn had no immediate comment Monday, but Penn has said in the past that it always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams, both when Thomas swam and currently.
The backstory:
The investigation opened in February by the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights focused on Thomas, who became a leading symbol of transgender athletes and a prominent political target of Republicans and President Donald Trump.
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The Trump administration in March suspended approximately $175 million in federal funding for Penn over its decision to let Thomas compete, the White House has said. The Ivy League school’s federal money came from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Big picture view:
In 2022, the NCAA used a sport-by-sport approach to allowing transgender athletes to participate, deferring to an individual sport’s national governing organization, international federation or prior established International Olympic Committee criteria.
Thomas competed under those guidelines, which allowed female transgender swimmers who had completed one year of hormone replacement therapy to compete.
The NCAA changed its policy the day after Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 5 that was intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports. That ended its sport-by-sport practice in favor of a blanket policy that only allows athletes assigned female at birth to participate in women’s sports.
What's next:
The OCR said it will give the university 10 days to be in compliance with Title IX or risk facing a criminal referral to the Justice Department.
The department wants Penn to issue a statement saying that it will comply with Title IX; effectively strip Thomas of any awards or records in Division I swimming competitions; and apologize to each female swimmer "whose individual recognition is restored expressing an apology on behalf of the university for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination."
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story also comes from a statement issued by the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. This story was reported from Los Angeles.