The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to prohibit transgender women from participating on women’s sports teams as part of a resolution to a federal civil rights investigation that determined the school had violated the rights of female athletes.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Education Department announced the voluntary agreement, which stems from a high-profile case involving Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who made headlines in 2022 after becoming the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I NCAA championship while competing for the Ivy League university.

The case is part of a broader effort under the Trump administration to remove transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports categories.

As part of the resolution, Penn agreed to reinstate all Division I swimming records and titles to the female athletes who lost to Thomas during competitions. In addition, the university will send personalized letters of apology to each of those swimmers, according to the Education Department.

It remains unclear whether Lia Thomas will be stripped of her personal awards and honors earned while swimming for the university.

The agreement also requires Penn to formally announce that it “will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs” and adopt “biology-based” definitions of male and female athletes going forward, the department said.

Linda McMahon.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon praised the outcome, calling it a win for fairness in women’s sports. “The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” she said in a statement.

The investigation was launched in February and concluded in April, with officials determining that Penn had violated Title IX—a landmark 1972 law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. Most Title IX violations are resolved through voluntary agreements like this one. Had Penn refused to settle, the case could have been referred to the Justice Department or initiated a process to withdraw federal funding from the school.

In a separate action earlier this year, the Education Department urged the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA) to reverse titles and records awarded to athletes the agency identifies as “biological males” competing in female sports categories.

The most prominent example remains in women’s swimming, where Thomas secured a national title in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Championships.

While the NCAA has previously amended its records in cases of recruiting violations, it has not responded to the department’s latest request. The NFSHSA has remained silent as well. Determining events with transgender athlete participation after the fact poses logistical challenges and could set a complex precedent.