The University of Pennsylvania has agreed with the Trump administration to disavow and apologize for having allowed transgender women to compete in female-only sports under past National Collegiate Athletic Association rules and to erase any athletic records and titles they earned.
The accord announced on Tuesday settles a U.S. Education Department investigation opened against the Ivy League school in late April under Title IX, the civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding.
The probe stemmed from an uproar sparked three years ago when a transgender athlete, Lia Thomas, became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 championship while competing on the UPenn women's swim team.
The outcome angered many fans and athletes who questioned the equity of opening all-women's sports to contestants who self-identify as female contrary to their assigned male birth gender. Critics see transgender women as tending to possess more masculine physicality regardless of identity or presentation, giving them an unfair edge in size and strength on the field.
Some women athletes also have balked at having to share locker-room and shower facilities with transgender teammates.
In a statement on behalf of the university, UPenn President J. Larry Jameson said his school does not set its own transgender sports policies but follows applicable Title IX and U.S.-wide intercollegiate rules, including those in effect during the 2021-2022 swim season when Thomas competed.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February banning transgender athletes from participating in all-female school sports.
Jameson noted that the NCAA, the governing body for U.S. college-level athletics, has since altered its own rules to limit competition in female-only sports to individuals assigned the gender of female at birth, and that UPenn already abides by those standards.
Nevertheless, "we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged" by the previous rules, Jameson wrote. He added: "We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time."
The university also will update women's swimming records set at UPenn three years ago to reflect "who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines," he said.
Moreover, Jameson said UPenn would release a public statement reaffirming its commitment to current Title IX policies, including "definitions of sex - with respect to women's athletics - that have been set out through two specific (Trump) executive orders."
The Education Department's announcement differed sharply in tone, referring to transgender women athletes as "male athletes allowed to compete in female athletic categories and occupy female-only intimate facilities."
It also described Trump's executive orders as "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism" and "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports."
No mention was made of the $175 million in federal funding the administration suspended from UPenn in March over the issue of transgender competition in student sports. Trump has threatened to withhold federal dollars from educational institutions over a range of issues, from pro-Palestinian protests to affirmative action.
The debate over transgender women in sports has resonated as a question of basic fair play across the political divide.
Advocates of the LGBTQ community have accused Trump of cracking down on transgender athletes, representing a tiny fraction of participants in student sports, as a culture war distraction from a social agenda that critics say undermines individual rights on a far broader scale.