“UPenn will restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories,” said a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Department of Education.
It is the latest development in the work of President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent transgender athletes to participate in sporting events that align with their gender identity. Penn Today explained in its own Tuesday announcement that an investigation into UPenn’s Title IX compliance was opened this February.
Lia Thomas, a UPenn swimming champion, has been a focus of debate regarding transgender women competing in women’s sports for years and was explicitly mentioned by the Department of Education. The department of education’s announcement indicates that her titles will be stripped and given to other athletes.
“We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines,” said UPenn in a statement published in Penn Today.
Supporters of efforts to prevent transgender people from competing in sports as their identified gender argue that it is unfair due to physical differences that could give them an advantage. While the issue is mostly associated with conservatives, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has even said he believed transgender athletes competing alongside others is unfair.
“These are tragic stories. Tragic,” said WWL’s Newell Normand of cisgender athletes who devote much of their lives to training for a sport and then lose to transgender athletes.
Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who tied with Thomas for fifth place in a freestyle event at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, praised the Trump administration’s actions.
“It is my hope that today demonstrates to educational institutions that they will no longer be allowed to trample upon women’s civil rights, and renews hope in every female athlete that their country’s highest leadership will not relent until they have the dignity, safety, and fairness they deserve,” she said.
Critics of the move include Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director at Media Matters.
“Whatever you think of Lia Thomas and trans athletes, stripping titles from somebody who competed within the rules that were in place at the time she competed to placate Donald Trump and Riley Gaines is cowardly and pathetic,” she said in an X post.
In 2022 FINA, the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee regarding swimming, instituted a policy that said only transgender women who began their transition before the onset of puberty and have maintained testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L could participate in women’s sports. Other institutions have developed policies that allow transgender and cisgender athletes to get medals for the same event.
“A.B. Hernandez, the trans athlete who is one of the ones who’s at the center of [controversy over transgender athletes in California] … when she competed, the state changed the rules so that even though she was awarded first place, there was a cisgender athlete who was also awarded first-place,” Morgan Polikoff, professor of education at USC Rossier explained in a recent interview with Audacy. “And so… the state was already trying to reach a compromised position, which I think seemed to be working pretty well for both the affected athletes.”
According to the Department of Education, its Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR’s) investigation “found UPenn violated Title IX by allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.” Department Secretary Linda McMahon also said that UPenn 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.”
UPenn signed an OCR Resolution Agreement to resolve its Title IX violations that requires it to: “restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes” that participated in female categories; issue a public statement to the University community stating that it will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy Penn Athletics female intimate facilities and that it will “adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX” and consistent with executive orders; rescind any guidance that violated Title IX and send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted swimmer.
“Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering. At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports,” said UPenn.
Per Penn Today, the school was in compliance with Title IX as it was interpreted at the time of the 2021-2022 swim season, when Thomas participated.
Bloomberg’s Erin Hudson noted in an interview with Audacy last week that the transgender athlete issue extends beyond UPenn. Trump has threatened to pull funding from California over it, for example.
“This is definitely a... national issue, and the [Trump] administration has backed down in one fight with the state of Maine,” said Hudson.