Last month, Trump signed an executive order that prohibits federal funding for programs that allow males to compete in female sports.
The Trump administration has paused giving $175 million to the University of Pennsylvania, alleging that it has allowed males to compete in female sports in violation of Title IX, the White House announced in a social media
post on March 19.
Title IX prohibits educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of gender.
The White House said in the post on X that it paused funding to the university over its “policies forcing women to compete with men in sports.”
A spokesperson for the university told The Epoch Times in a statement that it is “aware of media reports suggesting a suspension of $175 million in federal funding to Penn, but have not yet received any official notification or any details.”
The spokesperson said that the Ivy League school “has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams.
“We have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions.”
The Ivy League school has been in the spotlight over the past few years in light of a transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, winning a female 500-yard freestyle race in 2022 while on the university’s women’s swim team.
The runner-up, Riley Gaines, who was on the University of Kentucky’s female swimming team, applauded the announcement.
“Three years ago to the day I raced and tied a man at the DI NCAA Championships in the 200 freestyle. Today, the Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding to University Pennsylvania for this reason. Serendipitous,” she
wrote on X.
President Donald Trump is
scheduled to go to Philadelphia this weekend to watch the NCAA men’s wrestling championships.
Last month, Trump signed
an executive order prohibiting federal funding for programs that allow biological males in biological female sports.
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” it stated.
“This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
The administration has defined gender as that which is biological.
“Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being. The erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system,” stated
an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20.
The executive order said that it is the policy of the United States that there are two genders, male and female.
The Department of Health and Human Services
said on March 17 that three Maine educational institutions have violated Title IX by permitting biological men in biological female sports.
“The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association,” said Anthony Archeval, acting director of the department’s Office for Civil Rights in
a statement.
