Penn regains access to federal funds after resolving a Title IX investigation with the DOE.
Photo Credit: Penn Athletics
By: Reagan Reese
Last updated: Wednesday, 1:58PM EDT, 02 Jul 2025
The Trump administration released $175 million in previously frozen federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania, according to a Wednesday CNN report. This followed a resolution agreement made earlier that day between Penn and the U.S. Department of Education to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This action was a result of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR’s) investigation which found Penn violated Title IX by allowing a male compete in women’s athletic programs and occupy women’s-only facilities such as locker rooms.
“UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
In a letter addressed to the Penn community, Penn President J. Larry Jameson clarified on Tuesday that “Penn has always followed – and continues to follow Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”
As part of the resolution agreement between the DOE and Penn, Penn has agreed to “restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories.” Trangender swimmer Lia Thomas has been removed from a list of Penn all-time school records in swimming as of this change. A note at the bottom of this record reads, “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”
Penn has also agreed to issue a statement specifying that it would “adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX,” and apologize to female student athletes who were impacted at the time.
“We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experience anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” said Jameson in his letter to the Penn community.
On March 19, the White House announced a freeze in federal funding to the university in relation to the transgender athlete issue.
On April 28, the DOE’s OCR’s concluded its investigation into the university and found that Penn had violated Title IX and issued a “proposed Resolution Agreement to resolve the violations detailed in the noncompliance finding.”
Reagan Reese is a senior in the College studying Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Ocala, Florida. Reagan is also the Social Media Editor and Director of Marketing for The Pennsylvania Post. Her email is reaganr@sas.upenn.edu.
