Washington – The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday a trio of school records established by Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas and said he would apologize to the “disadvantaged” female athletes for his participation in the female swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.
The United States Department of Education and Penn announced the voluntary agreement of the high profile case that focused on Thomas, who last competed at the Ivy League school in 2022, when it became the first openly transgender athlete to win a title of Division I of the NCA.
The department investigated Penn as part of the broader attempt of the Trump administration to eliminate the transgender athletes of girls and women's sports, concluding that the university in Philadelphia had violated the rights of female athletes.
According to the agreement, Penn agreed to restore all the individual records and titles of Division I to the female athletes who lost to Thomas and send a personalized apology letter to each of those swimmers, the Department of Education said.
For Tuesday afternoon, Penn's website showed other athletes who had the best school times in Thomas events. The site was noted with a note that said: “Compeating under eligibility rules in force at that time, Lia Thomas established program records in the freestyle of 100, 200 and 500 during season 2021-22”.
“While Penn's policies during the 2021-2022 swimming season agreed with the NCAA eligibility rules at that time, we recognize that some athletes were at a disadvantage for these rules,” said Penn President J. Larry Jameson. “We recognize this and we will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or anxiety experienced due to the policies in force at that time.”
As part of the agreement, the University must also announce that “it will not allow men to compete in female athletic programs” and must adopt definitions “based on biology” of men and women, the department said.
In his statement, Jameson said that Penn has always complied with the rules of the NCAA and title IX, since they were interpreted at that time, and that the university has never had its own policies on the participation of transgender athletes. The school has followed changes in eligibility guidelines when they were broadcast earlier this year, he said. The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes in February, which limits competition in women's sports to athletes assigned to birth.
“Our commitment to guarantee a respectful and cozy environment for all our students is unwavering,” said Jameson. “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and athletes can participate in intercollegial competitive sports.”
The Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, called him a victory for women and girls.
“The UPENN department praises for rectifying their past damages against women and girls, and we will continue to fight tirelessly to restore the appropriate request of Title IX and enforce it to the maximum scope of the law,” McMahon said in a statement.
The former swimmer of the University of Kentucky, Riley Gaines, thanked President Donald Trump on social networks and wrote about the agreement: “Do the pigs fly?” Gaines has said that he began his activism against transgender athletes competing in women's sports after sharing a costume with Thomas in the NCAA 2022 championship.
The Department of Education opened its research in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits sexual discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought against the finding, the department could have moved to send the case to the Department of Justice or have followed a separate process to reduce the federal funds of the school.
In February, the Department of Education asked the NCAA and the National Federation of Secondary School Associations of the State, or NFSHSA, to restore titles, awards and records that, according to them, have been “embezzled by biological men competing in female categories.”
The most obvious objective at the university level was in the female swimming, where Thomas won the national title in the freestyle of 500 yards in 2022.
The NCAA has updated its registration books when recruitment and other violations have eliminated titles from certain schools, but the organization, such as NFSHSA, has not responded to the federal government's request and did not respond to electronic emails looking for comments on Tuesday. It was not clear how would determine what events a transgender athlete had participated years later.
