The University of Pennsylvania will no longer allow biological males to compete in women’s sports and will restore records set on the women’s swim team to females, the federal Department of Education and the school announced on Tuesday in separate statements.

The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) said it reached an agreement with UPenn after an investigation into whether the Ivy League school violated federal Title IX civil rights law in regard to sex discrimination by allowing a male athlete to compete against women and allowing him to share intimate female spaces.

The agreement will strip school records from transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male who won an NCAA Division I women’s championship in 2022, and the university said it will apologize to each female athlete who were “disadvantaged” or endured anxiety due to Thomas’ participation.

The OCR launched its investigation in February after President Donald Trump signed two executive orders—“Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

“Today is a great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “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 President J. Larry Jameson also released a statement, noting that UPenn would comply with current Title IX definitions and rules regarding sex discrimination.

“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,” Jameson said. “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.”

“Penn remains committed to fostering a community that is welcoming, inclusive, and open to all students, faculty, and staff,” he continued.

Thomas, the transgender swimmer, drew media attention after he won the 500-yard freestyle race at the 2022 NCAA women’s swim championships. He also tied for fifth place with a woman—University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines—in the 200-yard freestyle, but officials presented the fifth-place trophy solely to Thomas at the podium. Gaines, a professing Christian, later spoke out against biological men competing against women, drawing additional attention to the issue as well as personal attacks on her by many on the cultural left.

Gaines said in a statement Wednesday: “From day one, President Trump and Secretary McMahon vowed to protect women and girls, and today’s agreement with UPenn is a historic display of that promise being fulfilled. This administration does not just pay lip service to women’s equality: it vigorously insists on that equality being upheld. 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.”

One of Thomas’ UPenn teammates, Paula Scanlan, testified to Congress that she and her female teammates were “offered psychological services to attempt to re-educate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.”

Photo: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire / Newscom