WASHINGTON — The Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, the White House rapid response team announced on X on Wednesday, also posting a video clip of a Fox Business segment that broke the news. The pause stems from an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month banning transgender athletes in women’s sports.

What You Need To Know

  • The Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, the White House rapid response team announced on X on Wednesday, also posting a video clip of a Fox Business segment that broke the news

  • The pause stems from an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month banning transgender athletes in women’s sports

  • Citing a senior administration official, Fox said the paused funds are “a proactive punishment from the president" 

  • The university, which Trump himself attended, is at risk of losing all its federal funding as the school is investigated for Title IX violations

Citing a senior administration official, Fox said the paused funds are “a proactive punishment from the president to pull spending going to the school from the Department of Defense and Health and Human Services” and “is just a taste of what could be coming down the pike for Penn.”

The university, which Trump himself attended, is at risk of losing all its federal funding as the school is investigated for Title IX violations, according to Fox. The probe is focusing on Penn allowing transgender athlete Lia Thomas to compete on the women’s swim team and to use the women’s locker room.

Thomas was the first openly transgender athlete to win a NCAA Division I national championship in 2022, when she won the 500-yard freestyle while a fifth-year senior at Penn. The international organization that oversees swimming competition banned Thomas and other transgender women from competition that same year.

The NCAA first began allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports in February 2022. One day after Trump signed the executive order banning trans athletes this year, the NCAA changed its student-athlete participation policy. Only athletes who are female at birth are eligible to compete in women’s sports. Transgender student-athletes who are male at birth are allowed to practice with women’s teams and to receive medical care while practicing.

 “We are aware of media reports suggesting a suspension of $175 million in federal funding to Penn but have not yet received any official notification or any details,” a Penn spokesperson told Spectrum News. “It is important to note, however, that Penn has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams. We have been in the past, and remain today, in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions.”

According to Fox, Trump has threatened to rip federal funding away from any university that defies his executive order.