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Summary
UPenn will strip Lia Thomas of his swimming titles and records and apologise to the female athletes who were affected. The university will also adopt biology-based policies after a federal investigation found it violated Title IX under pressure from the Trump administration.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) will revoke transgender swimming champion Lia Thomas’ titles and formally apologise to affected female athletes after reaching a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that Lia is a man.
UPenn entered the resolution agreement on July 1, 2025, to align with federal mandates, following mounting pressure from the Trump administration and the conclusion of a Title IX investigation by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
The probe found UPenn violated Title IX by,
“allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.”
As a result, the university will now adopt biology-based definitions of “male” and “female” and will no longer allow transgender males to compete in women’s sports or use women-only locker rooms.
In a statement, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon hailed the agreement as a victory for women’s sports and attributed the development to the “Trump effect.”
“UPenn has agreed both to apologise for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes,” Linda said.
Lia Thomas, who began hormone therapy in 2019 after previously swimming on the men’s team, joined the women’s team for the 2021–22 season, after claiming to be a woman. He became the first openly male transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title, sparking national debate about fairness in women’s sports.
Under the agreement, UPenn will strip Lia Thomas of his swimming records and titles and issue public apologies to all biological female athletes who lost to transgender male competitors. The university will also implement new Title IX policies based on biological sex and release a public statement affirming its adherence to President Trump’s executive order on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism.”
The university also confirmed its full compliance with the Trump administration’s executive order mandating that sports, restrooms, and changing areas be segregated strictly by birth sex.
