HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) 鈥 The Trump administration said Monday that the University of Pennsylvania violated laws guaranteeing women equal opportunities in athletics by letting a transgender swimmer compete on the school鈥檚 women鈥檚 team and into team facilities.
The administration鈥檚 statement does not name , the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022 and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title that year 鈥 an award Thomas now faces losing.
But the investigation by the U.S. Education Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights focused on Thomas, who became a leading symbol of transgender athletes and a prominent of and President Donald Trump.
The department said Penn violated a law barring sex discrimination in schools and colleges, called Title IX, by 鈥渄enying women equal opportunities by permitting males to compete in women鈥檚 intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.鈥
Penn had no immediate comment Monday, but Penn has said in the past that it always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams, both when Thomas swam and currently.
The department said Penn has 10 days to voluntarily resolve the violations or risk prosecution.
The department wants Penn to issue a statement saying that it will comply with Title IX; effectively strip Thomas of any awards or records in Division I swimming competitions; and apologize to each female swimmer 鈥渨hose individual recognition is restored expressing an apology on behalf of the university for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination.鈥
The Trump administration in March approximately $175 million in federal funding for Penn over its decision to let Thomas compete, the White House has said. The Ivy League school鈥檚 federal money came from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2022, the NCAA used a sport-by-sport approach to allowing transgender athletes to participate, deferring to an individual sport鈥檚 national governing organization, international federation or prior established International Olympic Committee criteria.
Thomas competed under those guidelines, which allowed female transgender swimmers who had completed one year of hormone replacement therapy to compete.
The NCAA the day after Trump signed an on Feb. 5 that was intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women鈥檚 sports. That ended its sport-by-sport practice in favor of a blanket policy that only allows athletes assigned female at birth to participate in women鈥檚 sports.
The Education Department also opened reviews of volleyball, Public Schools, Public Schools, Oregon School Activities Association and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.
It also the state of to force it to from girls鈥 and women鈥檚 sports or face prosecution.
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