The administration of President Donald Trump restored $ 175 million for federal financing at the University of Pennsylvania after reaching a contract on transgender athletes, confirmed on Wednesday a spokesman for the Education Department.
On Tuesday, Penn said that he agreed to apologize to the members of her women who were “in an adverse situation” by the participation of the transgender swimmer Liia Thomas in the team in 2021–22 and removed Thomas’s records, giving them to swimmers who had the next best times. The school also agreed to follow the title of IX – the Citizens’ Rights Act, which prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination – “as interpreted by the Department of Education” in relation to athletics, and specifically it is recalled that by name Trump’s executive order entitled “Defense of women against the extremism of gender ideology and the restoration of the biological truth towards the Federal Government.”
»Read more: Penn Strikes Agreement with Trump’s administration on Trans athletes
Penn also repeated that transgender women will not be able to compete with women’s teams, in accordance with the decision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the beginning of this year to prohibit them.
The Trump administration announced in March that it stops $ 175 million in federal financing, because Thomas competed in the Women’s Swimming Team. Trump conducted a campaign on maintaining transgender athletes before women’s sport.
Penn did not answer immediately at the request for a comment on the status of financing.
For people from Penn who conduct research and teach in sexual studies, they know that their school has concluded an agreement with Trump’s administration in the case of transgender athletes, turned out to be a “huge disappointment,” said one of the leaders.
“Trans People in Penn and their allies perceive this as treason and stunning of extreme politicization in a higher edition,” he said Jessa LingelExtraordinary professor at Penn and director of the sex, sexuality and women’s studies.
“Penn had the opportunity to oppose his institutional involvement in equal opportunities and an open investigation,” said Lingel, who is also the president of the Penna American Association of University Professors, but spoke as a head of sex studies. “Instead, they surrendered.”
Lingel cooperates and supports Queer and Trans Penn community members.
»Read more: The Trump administration detained Penn $ 175 million for the permission of a transgender athlete for competition
US education secretary Linda McMahon and other conservatives spent Tuesday, trumpeting the contract as a huge victory of the Trump administration as well as women and girls. McMahon said Penn basically fell over and warned the department’s demands, and hopes that the agreement of its faculty, which concluded the school, serves as a “template” for other universities.
“We were bright, telling Upenn that allowing men to claim that they are women, so that they could attack women’s cloakrooms and compete with them in sport, it was neither honest nor safe” McMahon said. “So Upenn returned to the table and asked us what they could do to fix it. We said:” You must completely prescribe your institutional policy. ” They signed on a dotted line. “
She said that the department froze $ 175 million federal funds on Penn to illustrate “how seriously” he raised the problem.
President Penn J. Larry Jameson said on Tuesday in a message to the Penn community that no solution to the case could have “lasting consequences” for the school.
»Read more: Transport swimmer at the basis of the controversy regarding the payment of financing at Penn Vows in order to fight to include trans in sport
“Our commitment to ensuring respect and a friendly environment for all our students is unwavering,” he said. “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders and NCAA qualifications, so that our team teams and athletes can engage in competitive inter -university sports.”
At the end of April, Trump administration said Penn violated the federal law regarding civil rights, enabling Thomas to compete in the 2021-22 season and the apply of female facilities. The department demanded that the university apologize to the affected women of swimmers and restore the winnings. He also issued other demands and gave Penn 10 days to answer – the deadline expired almost two months ago. The department stated that the lack of compliance with the Ivy League at risk.
Thomas’s participation in the Penna team drew attention to the domestic attention and caused a debate over the law of translis to play sports. Thomas became the Ivy League champion and broke records at the Women’s and Diving Championships, which took place at Harvard in February 2022.
Thomas was the first transgender athlete who competed in Penn; There have been no other since then.
A lawyer representing Penn swimmers who sue the school for Thomas’s participation and the former Penn Paula Scanlan Penn swimmer spoke in favor of the contract.
“I am deeply grateful to Trump’s administration for refusing to protect women and girls and to restore our right to awards,” said Scanlan in the press statement of the education department.
However, several local politicians did not support.
The City Council of Philadelphia Council Rue Landau and Jamie Gauthier And the state representative Rick Krajewski, all democrats, condemned what they called Penn’s decision to “give in” to the demands of Trump’s administration.
“We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the University of Pennsylvania about rewarding a politically motivated campaign, which aims to remove transgender athletes under the narrative about sport,” they said. “This movement does not apply to justice. It is about calming Trump’s administration. It is a deliberate focus on the sensitive community for political points.”
Lingel said Penn would be in the position to reject the department’s demands and notice that he warned NCAA policy at the time of Thomas competition. The school did not have its own policy regarding Trans athletes.
Penna’s decision, as she said, will make Trans students feel “like second -class citizens” at the university.
“I think that the real apology should be LGBTQ students in the campus who will feel as if they were used as political football,” she said.
