The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has agreed to apologize for allowing infamous transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on the women’s team, resolving Title IX violations.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Department of Education announced that the university had entered into a “Resolution Agreement to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).”
The Department of Education explained that UPenn would “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.”
UPenn will also “send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer,” and “issue a public statement” to the university’s community explaining that it will “comply with Title IX” and will not be allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports.
“As a former UPenn swimmer who had to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I am deeply grateful to the Trump Administration for refusing to back down on protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades,” former UPenn swimmer Paula Scanlan said in a statement. “I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honorable one.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, in March, the Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding to UPenn over the university’s inclusion of biological males in women’s sports. The pause of millions of dollars in federal funding to UPenn was “pending an investigation” into the university’s alleged Title IX violations.
The pause is pending an investigation into UPenn’s alleged Title IX violations, which could threaten the school’s entire federal funding package.
As of 2024, UPenn’s total federal funding package totaled roughly $1 billion.
“From day one, 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,” women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines said in a statement. “This Administration does not just pay lip service to women’s equality: it vigorously insists on that equality being upheld.”
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order protecting women’s sports from transgender identifying athletes, which contained “several measures” such as the rewriting of Title IX education rules to “withhold federal funds from schools that allow transgender athletes” to compete in women’s sports.
