MUST READ: More than 250,000 Conservatives get my daily news alerts delivered to their inbox. Click here to get my Morning Edition.
The University of Pennsylvania will formally apologize to all female swimmers and will reinstate all female swimming records. The Ivy League school also announced that Lia Thomas, the man at the center of the transgender sporting scandal, will be stripped of all the titles he won competing against female swimmers.
“The university will be sending a personal apology to every female athlete who was forced to compete against a man,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Dept. of Education said they reached an agreement with Penn after an investigation had determined the university had violated Title IX by “allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.”
Thomas had competed for the women’s team in the 2021-22 season, after previously competing for the men’s team.
Under UPenn’s new agreement the following actions will be taken:
- UPenn will send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer.
- UPenn will 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;
- UPenn will issue a public statement to the University community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that UPenn will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy Penn Athletics female intimate facilities;
- The statement will specify that UPenn will adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism” and “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”;
- UPenn will post the statement in a prominent location on its main website and on each of its websites for women’s athletics;
- UPenn will rescind any guidance which violated Title IX, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX, and notify all staff and women’s athletics of all such rescissions; and UPenn will send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer.
The university released a statement saying the situation had been complex.
“While Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules. We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” the university’s statement read.
The swimming scandal ultimately led to a nationwide rebellion against men playing in women’s sports and elevated two Penn swimmers to national prominence, Paula Scanlan and Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who tied Thomas for fifth place in a race.
“It is my hope that today demonstrates to educational institutions that they will no longer be allowed to trample upon women’s civil rights, and 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,” Gaines said in a statement to the New York Post.
“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,” Scanlan said in a statement to the newspaper. “I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honorable one.”
This is a great victory for women and common sense! God bless the Trump Administration, Paula Scanlan, Riley Gaines and female athletes across America who dared to take a stand.
MUST READ: More than 250,000 Conservatives get my daily news alerts delivered to their inbox. Click here to get my Morning Edition.