The University of Pennsylvania has updated its women’s swimming records to restore titles and accomplishments for female athletes. Yet, in comically predictable fashion, the liberal university’s record book added a special note highlighting the records transgender swimmer Lia Thomas set during the 2021-22 season while competing on the women’s team.
The Department of Education announced on July 1 that UPenn had agreed to resolve Title IX violations related to Thomas’ participation on the women’s swimming team. Restoring stolen records to female athletes was a piece of the resolution deal. However, the university found a workaround to restore those records while still acknowledging the transgender swimmer who stole records from women and got the program into the ridiculous mess to begin with.
The UPenn women’s swimming record book was updated on July 1 based on the updated URL that contains the date, and Thomas is still listed as a member of the 400m free relay team that set a school record time of 3:17:80 while a special note was added to the bottom of the page.
“NOTE: Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season,” the note reads.
Thomas’ roster page on the UPenn athletics website also acknowledges the school record time of 3:17:80 in the 400m free relay team event.
Lia Thomas is still listed in UPenn’s women’s swimming record books. Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
On top of agreeing to update its record books, which one could argue the university didn’t fully comply with, Penn will also adopt definitions for male and female consistent with biological sex and issue personal apologies to each impacted female swimmer.
Paula Scanlan, a teammate of Thomas who previously expressed the emotional distress she suffered from being forced to share a women’s locker room with a biological male for an entire swim season, was grateful for the changes.
“I am deeply grateful to the Trump administration for standing firm in protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades,” Scanlan told OutKick. “It is because of their strong leadership that my alma mater now knows it has no choice but to begin the process of reforming its policies to uphold women’s rights. Today marks a momentous step toward repairing the past mistreatment of female athletes and forging a future where sex discrimination no longer limits girls’ potential.”
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ruled in April that UPenn had violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete on the women’s team. With the potential of facing serious financial consequences as a university that received around $1 billion in federal funding in 2024, Penn made the decision to stop allowing males to compete in women’s athletics.
