{"id":154653,"date":"2026-01-29T07:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/154653\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T07:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:50:56","slug":"san-jose-state-penn-targeted-in-trump-crackdown-over-transgender-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/154653\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose State, Penn targeted in Trump crackdown over transgender athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration is investigating potential civil rights violations at two universities and a high school sports league that allowed transgender athletes to compete on women\u2019s teams<\/a>, the Education Department said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The agency is opening reviews of San Jose State University<\/a> volleyball, the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s swimming program and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.<\/p>\n

It comes a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order<\/a> intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports. The order calls for penalties against schools and leagues, saying competing against transgender athletes deprives female students of equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls \u2014 and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms \u2014 to promote a radical transgender ideology,\u201d said Craig Trainor, the department\u2019s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.<\/p>\n

The Education Department said it proactively opened the new cases over suspected violation of Title IX<\/a>, a 1972 law barring sex discrimination in education. Opening an inquiry isn\u2019t meant to indicate a finding of wrongdoing, according to department policy. Additionally, the agency said it is reviewing athletics policies at a number of other schools.<\/p>\n

It reflects the Education Department\u2019s shift in civil rights priorities<\/a> as it aligns with Trump\u2019s agenda to target antisemitism and gender identity issues. The investigations also build on Trump\u2019s anti-transgender<\/a>campaign rhetoric<\/a>, which pledged to end \u201ctransgender insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates for transgender students condemned the executive order Trump signed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to what the president wants you to believe, trans students do not pose threats to sports, schools or this country, and they deserve the same opportunities as their peers to learn, play and grow up in safe environments,\u201d said Fatima Goss Graves, CEO of the National Women\u2019s Law Center.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order also prompted the NCAA to change its participation policy<\/a> on Thursday, limiting competition in women\u2019s sports to athletes assigned female at birth only.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unusual for the Education Department to investigate past violations of new policy, or to investigate without first receiving a complaint. San Jose State is being scrutinized over a player\u2019s participation on the women\u2019s volleyball team. A lawsuit filed by players<\/a> against the Mountain West Conference argued letting her compete poses a safety risk, but San Jose State has not confirmed it has a transgender woman volleyball player. The team\u2019s season ended Nov. 30.<\/p>\n

University president Cynthia Teniente-Matson said San Jose State will fully engage with the investigation and comply with the law as it continues to \u201cact within our authority to uphold the values that define us as an institution.\u201d <\/p>\n

The investigation at Penn focuses on Lia Thomas<\/a>, who swam on the school\u2019s women\u2019s team and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title in 2022. Thomas graduated that year. Penn did not immediately provide comment.<\/p>\n

According to the Education Department, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association allowed a transgender athlete to compete on a girls\u2019 high school basketball team, prompting an opposing team to forfeit after three players were reportedly injured. The department did not identify the schools or give further details.<\/p>\n

Athletic associations typically don\u2019t receive federal money from the Education Department, and it was not immediately clear what authority the agency had to investigate the Massachusetts league.<\/p>\n

The department is taking exception with a policy in the association\u2019s handbook saying students \u201cshall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student\u2019s bona fide gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league invoked that policy last year after a girls\u2019 basketball team in Lynn forfeited a game against a team with a transgender athlete. Three players were reportedly injured during the game, and the team was already down four to begin with, according to local media reports.<\/p>\n

The MIAA said it has historically complied with federal and state laws and is seeking legal guidance on its next steps. \u201cWe are especially interested in determining this investigation\u2019s impact on teams currently playing the winter season and on our upcoming tournaments,\u201d the association said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Lawyers who advise schools on Title IX say the Trump administration is taking an unusually aggressive approach by initiating its own investigations. Bonnie Young, a partner at Fox Rothschild, said such investigations typically aren\u2019t publicized until they\u2019re concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enforcement landscape is changing rapidly with the new Administration and the flurry of executive orders,\u201d Young said in an email. \u201cEach day reveals new and bolder enforcement actions to bring public and private entities into compliance with the Administration\u2019s objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Title IX has been at the center of a political tug-of-war in recent years. Under former President Joe Biden, new federal rules<\/a> expanded the law to protect transgender and LGBTQ+ students. A federal judge overturned<\/a> Biden\u2019s rules this year, calling them an overstep.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has been using Title IX to push against schools that provide accommodations for transgender students. Last month the Education Department opened another investigation into Denver public schools<\/a> after an all-gender restroom replaced a girl\u2019s restroom while leaving another exclusive to boys.<\/p>\n

In his order, Trump directed federal agencies to \u201crescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.\u201d The Education Department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights can move to cut federal money for institutions that violate civil rights, but only if it\u2019s approved by a judge and if the office fails to negotiate a resolution.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list<\/a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration is investigating potential civil rights violations at two universities and a high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[75942,47121,1327,75941,75940,536,15,75939,2209,54957,18,13912,2434,75888,75938,13686,49515,88,90,89,997,127,17,9111],"class_list":["post-154653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bonnie-young","tag-ca-state-wire","tag-college-sports","tag-craig-trainor","tag-cynthia-teniente-matson","tag-donald-trump","tag-education","tag-fatima-goss-graves","tag-gender","tag-gender-in-sports","tag-general-news","tag-joe-biden","tag-lgbtq","tag-lia-thomas","tag-ma-state-wire","tag-massachusetts-minutemen","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-spartans","tag-sports","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}