By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies, the White House said on Wednesday, its latest effort to force schools to fall in line with its policies.
The Ivy League university, which made national headlines in 2022 when a transgender student athlete competed on its women’s swim team, said it had not received any official notification of the pause but became aware of it through media reports.
The move follows an executive order signed last month by President Donald Trump banning transgender athletes from participating in female-only school sports.
Critics say the directive infringed on the rights of a tiny minority of athletes, while supporters of the order say it will restore fairness in women’s sports.
“It is important to note, however, that Penn has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams,” a university spokesperson told the media.
“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.”
Two years ago, swimmer Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 championship while competing on the university’s women’s team.
After Trump’s order, the NCAA – the governing body for U.S. collegiate sports – updated its rules to limit competition in female-only competitions to athletes assigned female at birth.
Trump has threatened to cut federal funding to universities over a range of issues including transgender rights, diversity, equity and inclusion programs and pro-Palestinian campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, editing by Deepa Babington)
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