The Trump administration said that Penn violated federal laws that guarantee women equal opportunities in athletics.
The Ivy League – eight historic private institutions -- also did this by allowing Will Thomas, who prefers to be known as Lia Thomas, to compete on the women's swim team in 2022.
Thomas won the women’s 500-yard freestyle national championship while competing for Penn in the NCAA Division I meet in 2022. Now he will lose the championship if Penn complies with orders from the Trump administration.
The Department of Education’s proposed Resolution Agreement requires UPenn to take the following actions:
- Issue a statement to the University community stating that the University will comply with Title IX in all of its athletic programs;
- Restore to all female athletes all individual athletic records, titles, honors, awards or similar recognition for Division I swimming competitions misappropriated by male athletes competing in female categories; and
- Send a letter to each female athlete whose individual recognition is restored expressing an apology on behalf of the University for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination.
The administration in March announced it was freezing $175 million in funds designated for UPenn because of the school’s policies that allows biological males to compete in women’s sports.
"We have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions,” a UPenn spokesperson said when the funding freeze was announced.
Paula Scanlan (above, right), an ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center, is a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who was a teammate of Thomas’.
"Let me just say really quickly I don't think the University of Pennsylvania is going to apologize to anyone, and I honestly don't think that they are sorry for what they did to female athletes.”
She gave a few examples.
"First, the University of Pennsylvania nominated Lia Thomas (left) for NCAA woman of the year. Each school gets only a few nominees, and they chose Lia Thomas. They also told female athletes that we needed to seek psychological services if we objected to him undressing in our locker room 18 times per week. They gave us the number for an on-campus counselor."
School officials continued to highlight Thomas's achievements on social media and to make swimmers available for coverage from traditional media outlets.
There’s a difference in following rules and being a vocal promoter of them, Scanlan said.
“They would sell out the stands of our swim meets to media so that they could take pictures of us in our swimsuits. That is not a university simply following the NCAA rules. That is a university that stands by what they did, stands by thinking men belong on women's sports teams."
Paraphrasing former Senator Everett Dirksen, a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you’re dealing with real money.
But no amount of funding freeze will make up for UPenn’s evil, Scanlan said.
"The University of Pennsylvania deserves far worse than losing federal funding – called out by the Department of Education. What is also not fixed by an apology and reallocating the award is the girls who were denied the opportunity to compete altogether. Girls in NCAA that were denied the opportunity of swimming in the finals. The girls in the Ivy League that were denied the opportunity of making finals or qualifying for the meet.”
Getting what they deserve
Now the University is being held accountable by the Trump administration. School officials reveled in Thomas’ victories in the pool and are reaping what they have sown, Scanlan said.
UPenn administrators “genuinely enjoyed watching Lia Thomas dominate and rob all of our opportunities. I'm grateful to this administration because accountability is finally happening. Try to get out of it all you want, University of Pennsylvania, but you are responsible, and you deserve everything that's coming to you.
“You stood by what you did to us.”
