The University of Pennsylvania will strip trans-identified swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas of his medals and apologize to female swimmers who were forced to compete against him in women’s competitions.
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania after concluding that the university had violated Title IX policies by allowing Thomas, a man who identifies as a woman, to compete in women’s swimming competitions.
UPenn reached a resolution agreement with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to resolve the Title IX violations, which included the university agreeing to “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.”
Additionally, according to the announcement, UPenn will no longer allow males to compete in female athletic programs or use campus facilities reserved for women. The academic institution will also send official apologies to female athletes harmed by its earlier policy.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was quoted in the announcement as saying that the agreement was “a great victory for women and girls” and “yet another example of the Trump effect in action.”
“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,” she stated.
“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.”
For its part, UPenn posted a statement on Tuesday confirming that it will “comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972” and adhere to the Trump administration’s policies on women’s sports.
“The University will not — on the basis of sex — exclude female students from participation in, deny female students the benefits of, or subject female students to discrimination under, any athletics programs,” stated the university.
“In addition, in providing to female student-athletes intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms in connection with Penn Athletics, such facilities shall be strictly separated on the basis of sex and comparably provided to each sex.”
Thomas, who is male and previously went by the name William before self-identifying as female, broke women’s swimming records and became a national champion in 2022 after he was allowed to compete on the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania. He had previously been a member of the men’s swim team for three years.
Thomas’ involvement on the swim team received widespread criticism, including from multiple female teammates who had expressed discomfort at sharing a locker room with the athlete.
One former teammate, Paula Scanlan, told conservative commentator Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire in 2023 that school officials didn’t allow her to speak against Thomas being on the team.
“They continued to tell us that our opinions were wrong and if we had an issue about it, we were the problem,” Scanlan said at the time, “and it’s frightening, and your future job is on the line.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration opened an investigation into UPenn’s policies regarding men in women’s sports, eventually concluding that the school violated Title IX.
In March, the White House threatened to withhold $175 million in funding from UPenn in response to the university’s stance on Thomas and its policy of allowing men to compete in women’s sports in general.
