
Content warning: This article contains instances of misgendering that may be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers.
Three former Penn swimmers — who are suing Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA for allegedly violating Title IX by allowing 2022 College graduate Lia Thomas to compete in the 2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships — filed a reply in opposition to the University’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit on Wednesday.
The June 11 filing urged the court to deny Penn’s motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Thomas’ participation in the event was not in accordance with the NCAA regulation, and deprived the other competitors of equal opportunity in violation of Title IX. Penn filed a motion to dismiss the initial suit in April, writing that the plaintiffs “cannot establish causation against Penn” and “failed to plead that they suffered a concrete injury related to their claims.
Filed on behalf of 2022 College graduate Grace Estabrook, 2024 College graduate Margot Kaczorowski, and 2024 College graduate Ellen Holmquist, the initial suit argues that Thomas’ participation in the event violated Title IX.
The filing emphasized that the harm Estabrook, Kaczorowski, and Holmquist occurred as a result of “Penn’s decision to roster Thomas on the women’s team.”
The filing argues that “sex-separation was necessary to ensure equal opportunity” at the event, citing a “demonstrable and unfair athletic advantage over women swimmers because he has retained-male advantage.”
“Selectively reneging on its prior decision to implement sex-separated teams to accommodate one male’s gender identity fundamentally disrupted equal opportunity for all women in the Ivy League Championships,” the plaintiffs wrote.
In the months since the federal government found Penn in violation of Title IX over Thomas’ participation in women’s athletics, two former NCAA swimmers have criticized the University and called for the criminal prosecution of officials at universities who allowed her to compete.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines called for the prosecution of the Georgia Institute of Technology due to its decision to allow Thomas to compete in the 2022 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships held at the university. Gaines — who tied for fifth place with Thomas at the event — pronounced her support for criminal prosecution as a response to the issue in a June 5 interview with Fox News Digital.
“I would love to see prosecution because I believe what is happening is criminal,” Gaines said. "The way that we have been told that a man's feelings matter more than our physical safety, than our rights to participate, to call ourselves champions, I believe that is a criminal action, therefore I believe it is a criminal offense.”
Gaines specifically called for the prosecution of Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera, who Gaines said was “very smug” and “continued to not attest or answer to any of the claims that we are making that happened on his pool deck.”
Requests for comment were left with Cabrera and Gaines.
On a May 29 episode of The Terry Schilling Show, 2022 Engineering graduate and former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan spoke about the “competitive unfairness” of the University’s decision to allow Thomas to compete for Penn’s women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season. In the interview, Scanlan criticized the “craziness” of the Black Lives Matter movement and pro-Palestinian protests on Penn’s campus
“This is actually crazy,” Scanlan said of Thomas’ transition. “No one in their right mind could possibly support this.”
Scanlan said she believed “85%” of her team agreed with her opinions of Thomas, but were “afraid” to speak out.
“All of the girls were saying ‘it’s actually great, we love Lia Thomas,’” she said. “I think it’s just people being cowards.”
Scanlan recounted various anecdotes regarding Thomas, stating she thought her inclusion on the women’s swimming and diving team was a “sick joke.” She classified the support for Thomas by others — including her therapist — as “gaslighting.”
Scanlan also remarked that Penn only needed “12 or 15” majors and said her professors “weren’t good.”
A University spokesperson declined to comment.
At the time of Thomas’ transition, the NCAA’s rules allowed athletes to change gender categories, but athletes had to complete a year of hormone therapy before transitioning to their new team. Thomas continued to compete on the men’s team during the 2019-20 season while continuing hormone therapy. She competed in four total dual meets during the regular season.
On March 11, 2020, when the Ivy League canceled spring athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas decided to take a gap year in 2020-21 — preserving a year of NCAA eligibility. Her hormone replacement therapy continued for two years until her return to the pool for the 2021-22 season. Thomas returned to practice with the Penn women’s swimming and diving team in summer 2021.
In March, 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump’s administration froze $175 million in federal funding to Penn, citing the University’s failure to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports. The decision came after a February executive order signed by Trump that threatened to remove federal funding from universities that allow the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Gaines — along with several other college athletes — filed a separate lawsuit against the NCAA also in March 2024 alleging Title IX violations stemming from Thomas’ participation.
In April, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Penn in violation of Title IX after the University allowed Thomas to compete for the University’s women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season. The OCR issued the University three demands to “voluntarily comply” with before a May 8 deadline.
Penn quietly submitted its response to the Education Department on May 8, but now, over a month past the deadline, both Penn and the federal government have remained silent, leaving it unclear how — or if — the University complied.
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