The University of Pennsylvania will block transgender athletes from female sports teams and erase the records set by swimmer Lia Thomas as part of an agreement with the federal government, the Department of Education said.
The agreement comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader restrictions on transgender people, as it steps up its efforts to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports nationwide and serving in the military.
“Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes,” UPenn President J. Larry Jameson said in a news release Tuesday.
In February, the NCAA announced an overhaul of its transgender athlete policy to limit transgender participation in women’s sports in response to Trump’s executive order.
The White House in March cut off $175 million in federal funds for Penn related to the transgender athlete issue.
Thomas’ records have been removed from a UPenn list of all-time school records in women’s swimming.
The school says it will also apologize to female student athletes who lost to Thomas during the 2021-2022 swim season. »