The university faces losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid for noncompliance with Title IX.
The transgender swimmer who won an NCAA Division I crown in the women’s category in 2022 was stripped of that championship medal and all records as a female competitor at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) under the school’s recent agreement with the Department of Education, officials announced.
The resolution agreement signed by UPenn administrators requires the school to prohibit males from competing in female athletic programs or occupying women’s bathrooms or locker rooms.
It must also make a personal, written apology to every female swimmer who competed against the transgender athlete, Lia Thomas.
“Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a July 1 news release.
“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.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year prohibiting males from competing in women’s sports.
He cited the Title IX laws of 1972 that protected women’s sports.
In April, the Trump administration suspended $175 million in federal aid to UPenn and said the school would lose additional federal funding unless Thomas’s titles were relinquished.
The NCAA previously complied with Trump’s executive order and prohibited males from women’s sports.
Thomas won a Division I NCAA women’s swimming championship in the 500-yard freestyle event in 2022 after competing on the men’s team from 2017–2020.
Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky women’s swimmer who competed against Thomas, and Paula Scanlan, a former teammate of Thomas who had to share a locker room with the transgender athlete, have lobbied against male participation in women’s sports.
“From Day 1, President Trump and Secretary McMahon vowed to protect women and girls, and today’s agreement with UPenn is a historic display of that promise being fulfilled,” Gaines said in a press release.
“This administration does not just pay lip service to women’s equality: it vigorously insists on that equality being upheld.”
UPenn released a statement acknowledging the agreement and Title IX obligations.
“Penn remains committed to fostering a community that is welcoming, inclusive, and open to all students, faculty, and staff,” UPenn President J. Larry Jameson said in a July 1 news release.
“I share this commitment, just as I remain dedicated to preserving and advancing the university’s vital and enduring mission.
“We have now brought to a close an investigation that, if unresolved, could have had significant and lasting implications for the University of Pennsylvania.”
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