Penn will comply with all demands issued by the Department of Education regarding its Title IX compliance under a negotiated agreement announced Tuesday.
The July 1 announcement comes more than two months after the department’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 University’s women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season. According to a press release, Penn will additionally issue 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.”
The Education Department previously demanded that Penn release a statement affirming compliance with Title IX, restore accolades “misappropriated” by transgender athletes to female athletes, and send individual apology letters to the affected athletes. The University will comply with all three demands under the resolution agreement.
Thomas’ individual records have been removed from the Penn Athletics website as of Tuesday evening.
A note was added at the bottom of the women’s swimming and diving records page stating that “competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote in the Education Department’s press release. "Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes."
Penn President Larry Jameson sent a Tuesday letter to the Penn community reaffirming the University's "unwavering" commitment to "ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students."
“At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports," Jameson wrote.
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White House Senior Policy Strategist May Mailman told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn initially approached the federal government to begin negotiations “several months” ago, adding that the White House will ensure the terms of the July 1 agreement are complied with.
“This is an agreement where there are terms, and so we expect for those terms to be complied with,” Mailman said. “If they’re not, then, then they will continue to face substantial liability under Title IX.”
Mailman added that Penn could be rewarded for showing “goodwill” throughout the negotiations and could potentially receive funding from other institutions — such as Harvard — that have had funding paused.
“There’s obviously a real relationship with the federal government and for a university to recognize that and treat it like that, and be able to have a conversation like adults, I think, will always result in a listening side from the government,” Mailman said.
Penn's decision to enter the agreement was met with approval from 2022 Engineering graduate and former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan who appeared in Washington, D.C. following the announcement.
“So many women have fought so hard, for so many years, on this issue,” Scanlan said. “I have quite literally gotten exactly what I voted for.” She has been outspoken in her support for Trump.
1996 College graduate and T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation Alanna Wren sent out individual apology letters to former athletes “regarding the Penn Women’s Swimming 2021-22 season,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the DP.
Although “Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA rules at the time,” Wren issued an apology — on behalf of the University — to student-athletes who experienced “competitive disadvantage” due to the rules at the time.
"Penn is dedicated to providing a wide array of athletic opportunities to enrich the educational experience of our students, while at all times complying with federal law and NCAA rules and policies," Wren added.
On April 28, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Penn in violation of Title IX after the University allowed 2022 College graduate and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on the Penn women’s swimming and diving team during the 2021-22 season.
Penn quietly submitted its response “on time,” a University spokesperson previously told the DP.
“UPenn has a choice to make: do the right thing for its female students and come into full compliance with Title IX immediately or continue to advance an extremist political project that violates federal antidiscrimination law and puts UPenn’s federal funding at risk,” Education Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in the announcement.
The Penn spokesperson previously told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn has “always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies” and does not have its own policy “regarding student participation on athletic teams.”
“Indeed, we have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with all the regulations that apply not only to Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions,” the spokesperson previously wrote.
The agreement comes after the University moved to dismiss a lawsuit — filed on Feb. 4 by three former Penn swimmers — alleging that the four defendants violated Title IX regulations by allowing a “trans-identifying male swimmer” to compete in the 2022 Ivy League Championships.
The White House announced on March 19 that it would freeze more than $175 million in federal funding to Penn, citing the University’s alleged failure to comply with an executive order barring transgender athletes from women’s sports and promising to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
At the time of the funding freeze, a senior White House official wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that the change was not a result of the Title IX investigation into Penn but rather an “immediate proactive action to review discretionary funding streams to … universities.”
