Trump administration demands Penn restore accolades to female swimmers after allowing trans swimmer to compete [View all]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The University of Pennsylvania violated federal civil rights law by allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on its women’s team during the 2021-22 season and use the female facilities, the U.S. Department of Education said Monday.

The department has ordered Penn to “restore to all female athletes all individual athletic records, titles, honors, awards or similar recognition for Division I swimming competitions misappropriated by male athletes” or risk the loss of federal funding.

President Donald Trump’s administration has already paused $175 million in funding to Penn because of Thomas’ participation. The university had said it previously had not received any demands to get funding restored.

But it looks like that may have changed. In addition to restoring the records, the education department in its communication Monday listed two other requirements: the school must issue a statement to the Penn community that it will comply with Title IX and send a letter of apology to each swimmer whose record is restored “for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination.”

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/education/lia-thomas-upenn-violate-law-transgender-20250428.html

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This appears theatric to me, because at the time Thomas was on the team, the feds included gender identity under Title IX. The Constitution says: "No...ex post facto Law shall be passed." (That's in context of Congress, but would this not fall under the executive branch too?)