Ed Department investigates SJSU, UPenn over trans athletes

The Trump administration launched its first Title IX investigations into transgender athletes participating in college sports on Thursday, targeting San José State University and the University of Pennsylvania, according to a press release. The investigations came a day after President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports and single-sex facilities.

San José State and Penn are pointed choices for the first investigations by the Office for Civil Rights: Both were at the center of high-profile controversies over their acceptance of trans athletes on women’s teams. At SJSU, reports that one member of the women’s volleyball team was transgender spurred a months-long conflict in the NCAA last year, prompting a slew of teams to forfeit their games against the university in protest. And Penn swimmer Lia Thomas’s performance in 2022 led to an explosion of conservative backlash against trans athletes.

“The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls—and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms—to promote a radical transgender ideology,” Craig Trainer, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in a statement. “That regime ended on January 20, 2025.”

The press release also said that the Office for Civil Rights is “actively reviewing athletic participation policies” at other institutions.