Trump admin to investigate alleged Title IX violations at UPenn, San Jose State, which allowed men to play women's sports

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order banning biological males from women’s sports at federally funded schools, the Department of Education has launched an investigation into potential Title IX violations at several education institutes.

According to Fox News, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is launching investigations into the University of Pennsylvania, San Jose State University, and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) over the inclusion of biological males in women’s sports.

The DOE said in a statement, "Pursuant to President Trump’s Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order yesterday, the US Department of Education today announced investigations into two educational institutions and an athletic association where violations of Title IX have been reported. 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."

The incidents at UPenn and San Jose State were widely criticized by female athletes and members of the public alike and resulted in numerous lawsuits. 

UPenn came under fire in 2022 after Thomas began competing on the women’s swim team after previously competing on the men's team and breaking several women’s records and winning top spots at the 2022 Ivy League championships and the NCAA championships.

Paula Scanlan, a former UPenn swimmer who had to share a locker room with Thomas, told Fox News, "I’m deeply grateful to the Department of Education for addressing Title IX violations concerning female athletes with such seriousness. 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."

School alum Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist, and Margot Kaczorowski filed a suit against the school on Tuesday, one day before President Donald Trump signed the executive order, alleged that school administrators and women’s swimming coach Mike Schnur had misled the athletes on whether Thomas would be sharing a locker room with them, and that the school pushed pro-trans ideology that said they had a "psychological problem" if they had concerns over a biological male being on the women’s team.

The suit said, "The UPenn administrators told the women that if anyone was struggling with accepting Thomas’s participation on the UPenn Women’s team, they should seek counseling and support from CAPS and the LGBTQ center." It later added, "The administrators also invited the women to a talk titled, ‘Trans 101.’ Thus, the women were led to understand that UPenn’s position was that if a woman on the team had any problem with a trans-identifying male being on her team that woman had a psychological problem and needed counseling."

The NCAA was also sued by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines over the inclusion of Thomas. She competed against Thomas at the 2022 NCAA games and when the two tied, Thomas was handed the fifth place trophy and Gaines was told she could pose with the sixth place one.

San Jose State came under fire in the fall of 2024 after it was revealed that they had a transgender player, Blaire Fleming, on the women’s team. Other teams in the Mountain West Conference began forfeiting their matches against the team in protest of Fleming’s inclusion. The forfeits and string of victories the team had resulted in the team making it to the championships, though the team was defeated by Colorado State in the finals. 

11 Mountain West volleyball players and a former San Jose State assistant coach filed a lawsuit against the conference, with lead plaintiff Brooke Slusser, former co-captain of the San Jose State team, alleging that school administrators and her team’s coach had actively prevented her from knowing Fleming’s birth sex while being assigned to share bedrooms with Fleming on most trips for away games during their first season together in 2023. 

The lawsuit also alleged that Fleming had conspired with an opposing team member to throw a game and have Slusser hurt during the match. The suit sought an emergency injunction preventing Fleming from attending the Mountain West Conference, but a federal judge in Colorado declined.