A day after 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring transgender athletes from women’s sports, the NCAA announced a policy change officially restricting women’s sports to only biologically female athletes, effective immediately.
The NCAA announced the policy change Thursday after its Board of Governors voted to update the league's policy following Trump’s executive order. The NCAA now prohibits student-athletes assigned male at birth or student-athletes assigned female at birth who have begun hormone therapy from competing on an NCAA women’s team.
A request for comment was left with Penn Athletics.
Although the policy bars these athletes from competing, it allows transgender women or student-athletes assigned female at birth who have begun hormone therapy to practice on an NCAA women’s team and receive all other benefits of student-athletes on that team.
The new policy also establishes that “regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and competition) in NCAA men's sports, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.”
The new policy also follows three Penn swimmers suing Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA for allowing 2022 College graduate and transgender athlete Lia Thomas to compete in women’s swimming and diving at Penn, as well as the announcement of a Department of Education investigation alleging Penn violated Title IX by permitting Thomas to compete.
“I wish I could’ve told [2022 Riley] what was to come in 2025," former University of Kentucky swimmer and activist Riley Gaines — who tied for fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships — wrote in a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "She felt cheated, betrayed, and violated. I’m just glad that girl trusted God and took a leap of faith by stating the obvious when it wasn’t popular. It was true then and it's true now. He’s a man.” she stated on the platform.
“The NCAA finally pulled their heads out of their asses and decided to ban men from women’s sports," 2022 College graduate and former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan — who built an activism career off of her experiences with Thomas — wrote in a statement on X.
Gaines and Scanlan could not be reached for comment by time of publication.
LGBTQ+ activist Schuyler Bailar — also known friend of Thomas and the first openly transgender swimmer to compete in NCAA Division I swimming — posted a video on Instagram reacting to the policy change.
“This is a cowardly and despicable decision that will crush so many young athletes' dreams. Instead of remaining a leader, the NCAA has fallen oh so far discarding research and science because science supports the inclusion of trans athletes ... [the NCAA is] prioritizing bullying, discrimination, and power." Bailar said.
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