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President Donald Trump will reportedly pause funding to Penn over its handling of transgender athletes. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
JIM WATSON via Getty Images
President Donald Trump's administration reportedly intends to pause $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over the school's handling of transgender athletes. The story, which was initially broken by Fox Business, was shared by Trump's official Rapid Response account on X, formerly Twitter.
Though the pause has yet to be officially announced by the administration, a person familiar with the decision confirmed the news to the New York Times, saying it was made, in part, due to Penn's handling of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who competed on Penn's women's swimming team during the 2021-22 season.
In a statement to the New York Times, Penn said it was aware of the reports it would have its funding paused, but that the university has not "received any official notification or any details." The statement added that the school is in full compliance with current NCAA policies.
In February, the NCAA updated its transgender student-athletes policy following an executive order by the Trump administration. The new policy limited "competition in women's sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only," per the NCAA's release. The organization's previous policy, which was established in 2022, allowed each sport's national or international governing body to enact its own rules and regulations regarding transgender athletes.
Penn is not the first school that could lose federal funds under the Trump administration. In March, the administration canceled $400 million in grants to Columbia University over the school's handling of protests on the war in Gaza. A week later, Trump released a list of changes Columbia would have to make in order to potentially receive those funds. It's unclear if Trump will take the same track with the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, once the pause in funding is made official.
Though Thomas graduated in 2022, her swimming career continues to be a topic of discussion at the school. In February, three former members of Penn's women's swim team sued the university, aiming to have Thomas' records removed from the record books.
A day after that lawsuit was announced, the Department of Education said it would investigate Penn for possible Title IX violations after allowing Thomas to compete on the women's swim team.
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