President Donald Trump’s recent decision to freeze $175 million dollars in federal funding to Penn due to “the University’s failure to bar transgender athletes from women's sports” strikes at the very foundation of college athletics.
Sports are the “great equalizer”; the epitome of American democracy and meritocracy. Regardless of the arena, there are rules that dictate what is earned, what is fair, and, ultimately, who wins. Athletics are built on the principle that competition is governed by the rules, not politics or privilege. That’s why sports are sacred.
Or, they were.
Trump’s claim to rectify Penn’s decision to “permit a male to compete on its women’s swimming team” is not rule enforcement, as no rules were broken. Penn spokesperson affirmed that the University does not have its own policy regarding student athletic participation in teams and instead relies on NCAA and Ivy League policies. Although the rules have changed since, during Lia Thomas’ time at Penn, she, under the jurisdiction of the NCAA, Ivy League, and USA Swimming, followed all rules, guidelines, and requirements to compete on Penn’s women's swimming team. Thomas did not break the rules, and Penn didn’t either.
In principle, Trump claims, freezing Penn’s funding is about fairness in women’s sports, but in practice, it has everything to do with political retribution. Penn, his alma mater, being home to a successful transgender athlete, weakens his political agenda against transgender individuals, and as such, he wields funding as a weapon.
This isn’t his first rodeo either: Trump has a history of weaponizing federal funding. In 2020, his administration threatened to cut funding to school districts that “defied his demand to resume classes in person.” Despite other schools' allowance of transgender athletes, Penn is the only one receiving a direct funding freeze as punishment. Penn’s position as an elite institution makes it especially open to attack from Trump and his administration, which often criticizes “the enemy” that is elite higher education. He wishes to use Penn as an example. And his message is clear: Universities that don’t follow his policies will be punished.
Trump’s decision isn’t only a political move: It’s an attack on college athletics and the very foundation of sports. Athletics have always been governed by the rules, the points, the lines — clear boundaries ensuring that winning is about skill and not about external influence. When politicians choose to override governing bodies such as the NCAA, sports are no longer a meritocracy; they become a battleground for political agendas and ammunition.
All athletes are meant to follow the same rules in order to compete. Rest assured, Thomas and Penn did exactly that. By punishing Penn for following the existing rules at the time, Trump is undermining the credibility of all sports regulations. If an athlete can follow all regulations required of them and still be deemed illegitimate by an external political body, what’s to stop this from happening to other athletes and their achievements?
Could a future president decide certain schools don’t deserve federal funding for allowing international athletes to play on their teams? Should football teams lose scholarships if they recruit from states a president didn’t gain votes from?
Trump's decision isn’t only about Thomas, Penn, or transgender athletes. It is about the future of athletics and an attack on higher education. Do colleges that dissent from the president’s opinion risk financial punishment? Do sports remain a competition decided by skill and merit or become a catalyst for political gain?
Ironically, the president attended the NCAA wrestling championships at the Wells Fargo Center this past Saturday on March 22, an event where Penn competed, seemingly in support of the NCAA’s rules in this context.
For someone claiming to be defending the integrity of sports competition, Trump’s actions speak otherwise. By using sports as a political tool while actively undermining the institutions that uphold them, he is contradicting the very principles he claims to stand for. If sports are truly about competition, then they should be governed by the rules of the game instead of politicians looking to make a statement to higher education and the United States at large.
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