Nearly 50 University faculty members sent a letter to Penn President Larry Jameson on Friday, expressing concern about Penn’s decision to settle a Title IX investigation by complying with federal demands.
The letter — sent on July 25 and obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian — describes the “significant dismay and distress” caused by the University’s July 1 settlement with the federal government. The signatories also noted that the decision was “at odds with” Penn’s “core values,” and made without “input from faculty governance.”
The agreement came more than two months after the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Penn in violation of Title IX for allowing 2022 College graduate and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on the Penn women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season.
Perelman School of Medicine professors Meera Sundaram and Sunny Shin and Andrew Vaughan, a School of Veterinary Medicine professor and member of the University’s Faculty Senate, authored the letter.
“We understand that Penn entered into this agreement with the goal of saving jobs like ours and protecting the livelihood and education of all University employees, trainees, and students,” they wrote. “Nevertheless, we find this decision short-sighted and believe it will do more harm than good in the long run.”
The letter called on University administrators to “[reverse] this decision and [challenge] the administration in court to the fullest extent possible.”
“As biologists, we know that rigid binary definitions of sex and gender are not supported by scientific observations,” the authors wrote. “As people, we know that insistence on these rigid definitions harms and marginalizes many who do not easily fit within them.”
The faculty letter also referenced Penn’s “den[ial]” of “scientifically recognized truths.”
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In an interview with the DP, Vaughan noted that Penn rejected “the scientific understanding” of sex and gender by entering into the resolution agreement.
Vaughan emphasized his hope that the statement of “moral [objection]” might “carry a little bit more weight” if delivered by “the group of people … most affected by loss of funding.” He characterized the letter as not only “a show of solidarity” with those affected by the settlement, but a response to the University’s ongoing rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“This decision follows earlier retreats on Penn’s commitment to diversity and further diminishes community trust in a way that will do long-term damage to the University’s (and Hospital system's) reputation and mission,” the faculty wrote.
Penn previously scrubbed all references to DEI from its websites following a Jan. 20 executive order from 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump requiring federally funded universities — including Penn — to terminate such programs. All mentions of diversity and affirmative action were wiped from Penn’s nondiscrimination and equal opportunity policies on Feb. 11, and Penn’s central DEI website was scrubbed three days later.
“It’s a shame on its surface that there are people at Penn now — students, faculty, and other people in other positions — who look at themselves and say, ‘the University was willing to throw us under the bus for a couple hundred million dollars,’” Vaughan told the DP. “The federal government has no business telling us how we should be defining these things.”
Sundaram also expressed her objection to “the government’s executive orders and threats” in a written statement to the DP.
“We all have a responsibility to push back against such overreach,” she added. “I’m ashamed that Penn gave into blackmail rather than standing up for its values and its community members.”
The letter urged Jameson and other Penn administrators to “involve the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, or at minimum the SEC Tri-Chairs, in all future decisions, including any ‘behind the scenes’ negotiations with the current administration.”
History professor and Faculty Senate Chair Kathleen Brown previously wrote to the DP that she “was not part of the negotiations with the federal government.” While Vaughan noted that the Faculty Senate’s “advisory” capacity means that “the president and the board can do what they want without our input,” he also highlighted that the decision “should have encompassed stakeholders at every level of the University.”
The July 25 letter follows widespread condemnation of Penn’s settlement by various university faculty members and groups.
Vaughan noted that while “pragmatic in some ways,” the resolution agreement was “not particularly a noble or just decision.”
“Our motto is almost tailor made … to apply to scenarios like this, where it seems as though the law, or at least our elected representatives, are asking one thing of us, and that is difficult to jive with what many of us view as a morally defensible position,” Vaughan said.
Vaughan confirmed that the University had not responded to the letter as of July 29.
“To any members of the Penn community that are targeted or feel impacted by this decision, we see you, value you, and stand with you,” the letter concluded. “We will continue to work toward making Penn a place where you want to be despite this setback.”
The University removed Thomas’ individual records and issued a public statement specifying that Penn Athletics “will adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”
A lawsuit from three former swimmers arguing that Thomas’ participation in the 2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships violated Title IX was stayed on Monday pending a ruling in a similar case.
