The Department of Education on Tuesday urged the National Collegiate Athletic Association and a counterpart organization overseeing high school sports to restore to female athletes various records, titles, awards, and recognitions that were stolen by men during the Biden administration.
The Education Department’s general counsel sent a letter to the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations asking them to “strip” the accolades “wrongfully credited to the biological males who unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics,” according to a press release.
The department said the request is “entirely consistent” with the NCAA’s policy change barring men from competing in women’s sports.
“The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes,” said Candice Jackson, deputy general counsel.
National Review contacted the NCAA and NFHS for comment.
The NCAA’s new transgender policy emerged the day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week barring men from women’s sports through Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools. The NCAA intended to comply with the order.
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
While preventing men from competing in women’s divisions, the policy does allow men to practice with women’s teams and to receive “benefits such as medical care” while practicing, according to an NCAA press release. The new policy also prohibits female athletes who are undergoing hormone therapy, such as taking testosterone, to transition from competing in women’s sports, though they may still practice with women’s teams.
Trump’s executive order, which was issued on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, directed federal agencies to withhold funding from universities that allow male athletes to participate in women’s sports.
The order also allows women who are forced to compete against men to sue their schools and directs the Department of Homeland Security to deny the visa applications of foreign athletes who self-identify as the opposite sex to compete in the U.S.
Trump’s directive marked a reversal of the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, which allowed men who identify as women to access female competitions and spaces.
Several outspoken female athletes, including former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, were present for the signing of the order in the White House. In 2022, Gaines tied for fifth place with University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Lia Thomas in the women’s 200-meter NCAA championships.
Gaines praised the Education Department’s request of the NCAA and NFHS to return sports awards to female athletes.
“For the past four years, women have been begging for equal opportunities to compete and succeed, only to be ignored,” she said. “A president who recognizes and celebrates women for our accomplishments is long overdue. Restoring stolen athletic accolades to their rightful owners is a crucial step towards reinstating accountability, integrity, and common sense — one that I wholeheartedly support.”