The Education Department said Monday it has found the University of Pennsylvania in violation of Title IX, the federal law against sex discrimination, for allowing transgender students to compete on its women’s sports teams.

The department said it had notified Penn President J. Larry Jameson of the finding and distributed a proposed resolution agreement to be signed within 10 days requiring the school to bar transgender athletes from women’s athletic programs and send letters of apology to female athletes whose experiences have been “marred by sex discrimination.”

The Education Department did not mention any specific instances of trans athletes at Penn but said the school, as part of the agreement, must erase transgender female students’ records, awards “or similar recognition for Division I swimming competitions,” a clause that applies solely to Lia Thomas, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who competed on the school’s women’s team for one season in 2022, the year she graduated.

Asked whether the department had found Penn to have violated Title IX because it allowed Thomas to swim on the school’s women’s team that year, an Education Department spokesperson pointed to a February news release that announced Title IX investigations into Penn, San José State........

© The Hill