The University of Pennsylvania has caved to demands from the Department of Education (ED), agreeing to ban trans people from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identities. In doing so, they have also stripped trans swimmer and Penn alumna Lia Thomas of the titles she won while competing at the school.

An ED press release said the university reached the agreement after an April investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) determined the school violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete on the Women’s Swimming and Diving Team.

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Penn became the center of national controversy in 2022 over Thomas’s participation on the women’s team. The university staunchly stood by Thomas in the face of horrific backlash, which also led to the rise of right-wing activity, including Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth place with Thomas at a swim meet.

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In March, the White House confirmed plans to pause $175 million in federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania over its policies regarding trans students’ participation in sports.

Now, Penn has agreed to revoke the titles of trans women athletes and replace them with the cisgender women who placed behind them. The press release said the university will also issue a public statement committing to “adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female'” in accordance with the president’s anti-trans executive orders.

The school must also “send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer.”

The Penn Swimming and Diving website has already removed Thomas’s titles, but includes a note declaring, “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”

Gaines said in a statement that the move “renews hope in every female athlete that their country’s highest leadership will not relent until they have the dignity, safety, and fairness they deserve.”

ED Secretary Linda McMahon called the moment “is a great victory for women and girls… across our nation.”

Trans activist Charlotte Clymer slammed Penn for the move.

“UPenn was afraid of losing funding,” she wrote, “and they’ve decided humiliating Lia Thomas is a worthy price to pay to save themselves. Lia Thomas did nothing wrong. She followed the rules and competed fairly and honorably. UPenn’s leadership are cowards.”

She added, “UPenn just communicated to every young trans person in the country that they are not safe on that campus. I hope every young person who was considering UPenn for college understands that and applies elsewhere. Your trans friends are not safe on that campus.”

Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ Program Director at Media Matters, echoed similar sentiments, calling it “cowardly and pathetic” to strip titles from someone who competed within eligibility rules that existed at the time to placate the president and Gaines.

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