US President Trump cuts federal funding to UPenn over transgender sports policies – JURIST
The Trump administration halted $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania Wednesday in response to the university’s transgender sports policies.
The announcement was first reported by Fox News and later reposted by Rapid Response 47 on X (formerly Twitter). Rapid Response 47 is an account created by the Trump administration to respond to news reports. However, the University of Pennsylvania said it has not received any official notification on the funding cut, in two media statements on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Further, the university’s statements maintained that “we have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions.”
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights investigated the university after a transgender athlete was given a spot on the women’s Swim and Dive team. According to a team member Paula Scanlan, “the University of Pennsylvania offered her and her teammates psychological services to re-educate themselves to become comfortable undressing in front of a man.”
The University of Pennsylvania is not the first university to receive federal funding revoked under the Trump administration. Columbia University has seen cuts of $400 million for official inaction by the university after continued harassment towards Jewish students on campus. The funding was “immediately canceled” on March 7 after ongoing reviews of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
On February 5, President Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. The order maintains that American laws require educational institutions to guarantee biological women “an equal opportunity to participate in sports” under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. The order tasks athletic governing bodies and state Attorneys General with promoting equal opportunities and fairness for women.
Notably, the order requires the Secretary of Education to ensure that a previous executive order is not enforced. Former president Biden sought to expand Title IX protection to LGBTQ+ students. In Tennessee v. Cardona, the US Supreme Court upheld a preliminary injunction that blocked the Title IX rule related to gender identity. At the same time, the order is facing legal challenges for violating equal protection rights.
The order was built on another executive order US President Trump signed on January 20. The order recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and defines sex as “individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female,” which, the order states, is not changeable. The order is also facing legal challenges for discriminating against transgender people.
