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University of Pennsylvania agrees to prohibition transgender women from women's sports teams
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to prohibition transgender athletes, resolving the civilian rights lawsuit sparked by swimmer Lia Thomas, the Department of Education said Tuesday.
Penn agreed to a fig of "action items" to resoluteness what the section calls Title IX violations, the Education Department said successful a statement. Those items see restoring "to pistillate athletes each idiosyncratic UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, oregon akin recognitions which were misappropriated by antheral athletes allowed to vie successful pistillate categories;" issuing a nationalist connection saying the assemblage volition comply with Title IX and volition not "allow males to vie successful pistillate diversion programs;" and sending a "personalized missive of apology" to immoderate pistillate swimmers who were affected.
CBS News Philadelphia has reached retired to the University of Pennsylvania for comment. CBS News Philadelphia is moving to link with Thomas for a connection oregon an interview.
Penn posted a statement connected its website Tuesday that said, successful part, that the schoolhouse "will comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 … arsenic interpreted by the Department of Education, successful each of its athletics programs." The connection besides said Penn Athletics locker rooms and bathrooms volition beryllium "strictly separated connected the ground of enactment and comparably provided to each sex."
That station appears to beryllium the nationalist connection required successful the statement with the Education Department.
Penn besides said successful a separate statement attributed to University President J. Larry Jameson that the statement "brought to a adjacent an probe that, if unresolved, could person had important and lasting implications for the University of Pennsylvania."
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said successful a statement, "Today's solution statement with UPenn is yet different illustration of the Trump effect successful action. Thanks to the enactment of President Trump, UPenn has agreed some to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to guarantee that women's sports are protected astatine the University for aboriginal generations of pistillate athletes."
McMahon continued, "Today is simply a large triumph for women and girls not lone astatine the University of Pennsylvania, but each crossed our nation. The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we volition proceed to combat relentlessly to reconstruct Title IX's due exertion and enforce it to the fullest grade of the law."
Before this agreement, the Trump medication said Penn violated Title IX, the instrumentality that guarantees women adjacent opportunities successful assemblage athletics, by allowing Thomas to vie connected the women's aquatics squad and usage squad facilities.
Penn's connection astir the statement besides said the schoolhouse "has ever followed – and continues to travel – Title IX and the applicable argumentation of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed successful February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn volition proceed to adhere to these caller rules."
Thomas racked up notable achievements successful Division I women's swimming successful the 2022 NCAA season, coming successful archetypal successful the 500-meter freestyle astatine the Swimming and Diving Championships that year. She had different first-place finishes successful events astatine the Ivy League Championships held that twelvemonth astatine Harvard's Blodgett Pool.
Before she began transitioning successful 2019, Thomas competed connected the men's swimming squad and followed NCAA and Ivy League rules for the process. Thomas had enactment from the Ivy League and Penn astatine the time, on with respective teammates. But different athletes penned an anonymous missive asking the NCAA to barroom Thomas from competing connected the women's team.
Penn's connection explaining the statement with the Education Department said the schoolhouse complied with NCAA rules regarding jock eligibility successful the 2021-2022 aquatics season, but besides said, "We admit that immoderate student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules. We admit this and volition apologize to those who experienced a competitory disadvantage oregon experienced anxiousness due to the fact that of the policies successful effect astatine the time." School officials volition reappraisal schoolhouse records from that clip and bespeak who volition clasp the records nether the caller rules.
Laura Fay is simply a integer contented shaper astatine CBS News Philadelphia. Laura antecedently worked arsenic a reporter, exertion and assemblage manager astatine The 74, a nonprofit quality enactment covering education.
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