The Education Department launched investigations Thursday into three institutions where biological males who identify as female have played female sports, citing President Trump’s executive order on scholastic athletics issued the day before.
“President Trump’s executive order ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ is a promise to women and girls: This administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “The department is taking swift action to investigate three entities for suspected Title IX violations.”
The three institutions under investigation are:
• The University of Pennsylvania, where transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won an NCAA women’s championship while competing on the women’s team during the 2021-22 season.
• San Jose State University, where transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming helped the women’s team reach the 2024 Mountain West Conference final.
• The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, which let a transgender basketball player compete last year on the KIPP Academy girls’ basketball team. At least one high school forfeited a game against KIPP after the biological male athlete was accused of injuring three girls.
• The order signed Wednesday by Mr. Trump prohibits schools that accept federal funding from permitting male-born students who identify as female from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
He said the order applies to K-12 public school districts and “virtually all colleges and universities.”
The Education Department last week eliminated the Biden administration’s rule adding “gender identity” to Title IX, the federal civil rights law banning sex discrimination in education.
“The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls — and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms — to promote a radical transgender ideology,” said Mr. Trainor. “That regime ended on January 20, 2025.”
Sports programs at Penn and San Jose State are subject to the National Collegiate Athletic Association rules on transgender eligibility.
The NCAA previously let male-born athletes join women’s teams after lowering their testosterone for at least a year, but moved in January 2022 to a sport-by-sport approach using the criteria of the national sports governing bodies.
NCAA President Charlie Baker on Wednesday said the board of governors would review Mr. Trump’s order and “take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days.”
“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,” he said. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan, who swam on the same team as Thomas, cheered the department’s decision to investigate the program.
“As a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who was forced to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I look forward to them holding accountable the higher education institutions that promoted this,” said Ms. Scanlan, legislative liaison for the Independent Women’s Forum.
The Washington Times has reached out to the universities and the Massachusetts association for comment.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.