Penn strikes agreement with Trump administration over trans athletes

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Published July 1, 2025, 4:02 p.m. ET


The University of Pennsylvania will send “personalized” letters of apology to its female athletes who felt aggrieved by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation on their team and restore Penn records and honors they would have won if not for Thomas, as part of a resolution agreement reached with the federal government.

Penn becomes the first Ivy League university to strike a truce with President Donald Trump’s administration —at least on this issue — since it began targeting some of the nation’s elite universities, threatening funding and damaging policy changes if they don’t comply with certain demands.

It was not immediately clear whether the deal would result in the restoration of $175 million in federal funding to Penn that the White House said was paused in March, citing Thomas’ participation.

According to a two-page document obtained by The Inquirer, Penn has also agreed to issue a public statement, which will be posted prominently on its website, saying that it will abide by Title IX — the civil rights law that prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination — “as interpreted by the Department of Education.” But the agreement is restricted only to athletics and doesn’t affect other areas of university operations.

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/education/penn-trump-trans-athletes-lia-thomas-agreement-20250701.html

[Matthew28]

1. sucks

This country is becoming a very unfree and fascist place. Can't wear what you want and be who you wish to be.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. All this conformity to one man? Or to Project 2025?

Or Stephen Miller? Or Heritage?

Why is every institution caving on all things? Will we all wear the same clothing? Socks?

[angrychair]

3. People are cowards

They will all soon realize that nothing will ever be enough. This will only embolden them to push for more and more concessions.

[SouthBayDem]

4. NCAA policy already banned trans women from women's teams earlier this year

See 2/6/2025 NCAA announcement. The Inquirer article also points out:

When Thomas competed, the NCAA allowed transgender athletes; the association modified its rules earlier this year and banned transgender athletes from women’s sports in response to the executive order by Trump.

Thomas was the first and only transgender woman athlete to have competed at Penn, and since then, there have been no others.

Under the agreement, Penn acknowledged that even if the NCAA were to change its policies again, Title IX would “supersede” it, raising questions about what would happen to Penn athletes if the association decided to allow trans athletes to compete in women’s sports again. But it’s highly unlikely that the association would do that unless the education department, under a new presidential administration, altered its interpretation of Title IX back to the previous iteration.

No one at UPenn's law school is aware of "ex post facto laws"?

UPenn's decision is puzzling. Is this agreement to have a policy that is school-specific, regardless of future changes to NCAA policy or that "Save Women's Sports" executive order? The article indicates that UPenn would comply with T9 "as interpreted by the Department of Education".

[Jose Garcia]

7. "as interpreted by the Department of Education"

So, once a Democrat is in the White House this will be changed.

The only way this is going to be settled is if Title IX is amended to be more specific. Or if the Supreme Court rules on it.

[twodogsbarking]

5. Blackmail becomes him.

[wcmagumba]

6. The headline should be, "Penn agrees to join Gilead"...welcome to the real "Handmaid's Tale"...