The University of Pennsylvania — the Ivy League institution that famously allowed a biological male to compete on its women’s swim team — has agreed to ban that practice to resolve a Title IX violation lodged against it by the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday UPenn agreed to numerous concessions just two months after the department determined the school had violated Title IX.
“Had Penn not signed the proposed resolution agreement, it would have jeopardized its federal funding, risking referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement proceedings,” Yahoo Sports reported.
UPenn has agreed to restore female athletes’ records and titles that were “misappropriated” by male athletes competing and issue a public statement that it will comply with Title IX, specifying the school will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or use their locker rooms, the department announced.
The university has also agreed to adopt biology-based definitions for the words “male” and “female” and send a personal apology to female swimmers that had to compete against Lia Thomas, the UPenn transgender male who won the 2022 NCAA championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle.
“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,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a news release Tuesday.
Outkick pointed out that one “of those swimmers is Paula Scanlan, a teammate of Thomas who has previously expressed the emotional distress she suffered from being forced to change with a biological male in the women’s locker room for an entire season.”
Many women’s rights advocates praised the development.
“Today marks a turning point for female athletes and proves that no matter how powerful the institutions protecting the radical agenda to allow men in women’s sports and spaces may seem, truth and fairness still win,” stated Payton McNabb, a sports ambassador for Independent Women and former high school volleyball player who now suffers permanent injury as the result of a spike by a male competing on an opposing women’s volleyball team.
“UPenn’s actions violated Title IX and betrayed far too many female collegiate athletes—both at UPenn and at colleges and universities across our country. We are finally seeing accountability. No university is above the law,” McNabb stated in a news release.
Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, who also swam against Thomas for the University of Kentucky, posted on X: “UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman. Are pigs flying? God bless @realDonaldTrump.”
MORE: Trump administration orders UPenn to erase trans swimmer’s records, apologize to female athletes