UPenn Agrees to Protect Women’s Sports, Adopt Biology-Based Definitions for ‘Male’ and ‘Female’
The U.S. Department of Education announced today that the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has agreed to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 following the department’s Office for Civil Rights investigation that found the school had violated Title IX by allowing males to compete in women’s sports and use their private spaces.
Title IX bars discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
The central focus of the UPenn case was Lia Thomas, a male swimmer who claimed to be a female and had last competed for the Ivy League school in 2022. He went on to win a Division I title.
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press statement.
“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,” McMahon added. “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.”
Per a Resolution Agreement, UPenn is required to:
“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”;
“issue a public statement to the University community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that UPenn will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy Penn Athletics female intimate facilities”;
“adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism” and “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”;
“rescind any guidance which violated Title IX, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX”;
“send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer”.