On April 28, the Department of Education issued three demands to Penn, warning that failure to comply could result in the loss of all federal funding and potential action from the Department of Justice. For nearly 10 weeks after the deadline for the University’s response, both sides remained publicly silent.
Following the announcement of a settlement between Penn and the Education Department, government officials told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn had been involved in closed-door negotiations in Washington for months — ultimately leading to Monday’s resolution agreement.
Like many of its peer institutions, Penn faced funding cuts and federal investigations as President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump enacted his campaign promises to reform elite higher education institutions. Yet senior government officials told the DP that the University’s willingness to engage with the federal government paved the way for a resolution that restored millions in frozen funding to Penn.
Penn has not responded to requests for comment on the nature of the negotiations.
White House senior policy strategist May Mailman told the DP that Penn approached the federal government to begin negotiations shortly after the White House initially paused $175 million of Penn’s funding. Discussions were ongoing over the course of “several months,” Mailman added, taking place primarily at the “agency staff level.”
She said that Penn set a positive tone for the negotiations by recognizing it had an “unavoidable need for a relationship” with the federal government. The University’s understanding and ability to “have a conversation like adults” earned it a place on the government’s “listening side.”
Mailman mentioned the “childlike behavior and intransigence” of other universities that have attempted to negotiate with the federal government, adding that Penn could be rewarded for showing “goodwill” throughout the negotiations and potentially receive funding previously allocated to peer institutions such as Harvard University.
A senior Education Department official familiar with the negotiations told the DP that the University’s attorneys were directly engaged in conversation with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, led by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
According to the official, the Education Department presented Penn with a draft agreement during the discussions. While Penn’s legal team pushed back on certain provisions and sought to soften some of the language, Trainor told the DP that the Education Department made it “very clear” that the terms were “non-negotiable,” particularly concerning language reflecting the Trump administration’s position that there are only two sexes.
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“The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights represented the American people zealously,” Trainor said. “We ensured that [Penn] came into compliance with Title IX, and we ensured that the agreement had teeth.”
Trainor encouraged universities and colleges across the country “to look at what Penn did” and proactively seek a resolution.
He emphasized that the Education Department’s OCR will offer universities the opportunity to “come to the table, get ahead of this, and work with us to come into compliance with federal civil rights law.” However, Trainor specified that the agency’s assessment of cooperation would be contingent on institutions following the “terms that we outline and the terms we come to an agreement with.”
“Penn provides a model for institutions that want to do right by their victims, and that want to follow the law and show that they are ready to be serious and responsible and respect the anti-discrimination laws that they are required to follow if they want to continue to receive taxpayer funds,” Trainor said.
