UPenn To Strip Male Swimmer Of Stolen Women’s Championship

The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) will restore all female swimming records rightfully won by women and strip those won by men, like William “Lia” Thomas, as well as apologize to each affected athlete for allowing the civil rights violation to take place.

The Department of Education announced on Tuesday that UPenn has entered a Resolution Agreement with the department’s Office for Civil Rights, bringing the school into compliance with Title IX so that it will no longer discriminate against women by allowing male athletes to compete against them.

“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is 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,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation. 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.” 

UPenn is probably the most prominent example of such discrimination, with male swimmer Thomas having stolen the 2022 NCAA championship in the 500-yard final. While the agreement does not mention Thomas specifically, it requires that the university strip him of that false title.

On the updated records page, however, UPenn did put an asterisk at the bottom, stating without including the context of Thomas being a male, “NOTE: 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.”

While Thomas’s records at UPenn will be removed and returned to the rightful female athlete, it is unclear how the NCAA will deal with rectifying the records, as he won the national championship — something awarded by the NCAA, not UPenn itself.

The NCAA did change its policy one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bar males from competing in female sports, but does not specifically address correcting records from the past.

Paula Scanlan, a former UPenn swimmer on the team with Thomas, has been outspoken about the emotional stress she suffered by being forced to share a locker room and undress in front of a male for an entire season.

“As a former UPenn swimmer who had to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I am deeply grateful to the Trump Administration for refusing to back down on protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades. I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honorable one,” Scanlan said after the agreement was entered. “Today marks a momentous step in repairing the past mistreatment of female athletes, and forging a future where sex discrimination plays no role in limiting girls’ potential.” 

The agreement does not just require the rightful winners be recognized against the intrusion of males in female sports, but also mandates that UPenn acknowledge that “male” and “female” are biological realities and change it definitions to come in line with that obvious understanding, pursuant to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump (Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports).

That recognition is required to be part of a public statement from the university, along with a stated commitment to comply with Title IX and no longer allow men to compete in women’s sports or occupy private facilities like women’s locker rooms and restrooms.

“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,” the school said in the Tuesday statement. “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.”

The school must also rescind all guidance violating Title IX and give a “personalized letter of apology” to each affected female athlete.

The agreement comes after the Department of Education opened an investigation into UPenn on Feb. 6 due to the situation with Thomas, and after Scanlan had testified before Congress that the female members of the swim team were “offered psychological services to attempt to re-educate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.” 

In March, the Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding to the school, citing the Title IX violation created by Thomas’ participation on the women’s swimming team.

By April 28, the department found UPenn in violation of Title IX and proposed the Resolution Agreement entered on Tuesday.

In a message to the university community, UPenn President Dr. J. Larry Jameson stated that the school will maintain a “welcoming, inclusive, and open” environment, adding that, “I share this commitment, just as I remain dedicated to preserving and advancing the University’s vital and enduring mission. We have now brought to a close an investigation that, if unresolved, could have had significant and lasting implications for the University of Pennsylvania.”

The statement highlighted, however, that at the time of Thomas’ stolen record, UPenn was not in violation of Title IX “as then interpreted.”

And that is likely true. The Biden administration did everything it could to put women and girls in danger, both in sports and in school every day, in order to fulfill the fever dream of enforcing “transgender” ideology on America’s children and young adults.

Biden and the Democrats wanted males sleeping in the same rooms as females on overnight school trips, undressing in front of them in locker rooms, and invading their personal space in restrooms. And if the females did not like it, that was their fault.

It is unclear how UPenn’s policy might change again, given a different administration. As The Federalist reported, some groups are working on making something close to the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX (such as recognizing the reality of biological sex) permanent and unchangeable, in order to stop the gender theory “whiplash.”

That proposal would require congressional approval.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Federalist.

Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.