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FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that the University of Pennsylvania has agreed to a resolution with President Donald Trump’s administration to keep biological male trans athletes out of women’s sports, in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
The department previously launched an investigation into UPenn on Feb. 6 for Title IX violations that occurred in the swimming program. Trans athlete Lia Thomas competed for the women’s team in the 2021-22 season, after previously competing for the men’s team.
“Today, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has entered into a Resolution Agreement to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX),” the statement read.
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Riley Gaines, now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, famously tied Lia Thomas for fifth place in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)
Per the DOE’s announcement, under UPenn’s new agreement the following actions will be taken:
- UPenn will restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories;
- UPenn will issue a public statement to the University community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that UPenn will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy Penn Athletics female intimate facilities;
- The statement will specify that UPenn will adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism” and “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”;
- UPenn will post the statement in a prominent location on its main website and on each of its websites for women’s athletics;
- UPenn will rescind any guidance which violated Title IX, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX, and notify all staff and women’s athletics of all such rescissions; and
- UPenn will send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon credited Trump for the resolution.
“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,” McMahon said in a statement.
“Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation. The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law.”
Former UPenn women’s swimmer Paula Scanlan, who was the first of Thomas’ teammates on the women’s team to speak out against the school for allowing the situation to play out, told Fox News Digital that she is “grateful.”
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“I am deeply grateful to the Trump administration for standing firm in protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades,” Scanlan said.
“It is because of their strong leadership that my alma mater now knows it has no choice but to begin the process of reforming its policies to uphold women’s rights. Today marks a momentous step toward repairing the past mistreatment of female athletes and forging a future where sex discrimination no longer limits girls’ potential.”
Scanlan isn’t the only one of Thomas’ former teammates to speak out anymore.
Three other former UPenn swimmers filed a lawsuit against the university on Feb. 5, the same day Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order.
The lawsuit sought to have Thomas’ accolades withdrawn and redistributed to the women’s swimmers who competed against the athlete, and it alleges university administrators suggested any female swimmer opposed to Thomas competing with them had a “psychological problem” and were referred to the school’s LGBTQ center.
Trump’s administration later froze $175 million in funding for the school on March 20. Then, on April 28, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights announced its investigation concluded that UPenn did violate Title IX in its handling of the Thomas situation.
The Thomas saga at the 2022 NCAA championships is largely considered a cultural turning point in the national debate over transgender athletes in women’s sports. Back then, current prominent conservative activist Riley Gaines was just a dental student who had to settle for a tie with Thomas in one of the NCAA championship events.
Since then, Gaines has taken the lead on an entire political platform focused on combating male inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports, stemming from her experience competing against Thomas in 2022.
Gaines previously told Fox News Digital that she would send a “thank-you” note to “people like” Thomas for bringing attention to the issue back then, as she believes it influenced the 2024 election.
“I think we should send a thank-you note to people like Will Thomas, I really do, signed and sealed by me. I will sign the thank-you note, I will write it, because I believe he handed us the election,” Gaines said.
“There was a lot that was wrong with Joe Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party as a whole outside of the sports stuff … but this was the perfect visual. It’s like the South Park episode. … It painted the picture that many of us were concerned about for a while, but made it a reality.”
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A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. Additionally, 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
Fox News Digital reached out to UPenn and Thomas’ listed representative for comment.
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