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Trump stops $175 million in funding to University of Pennsylvania due to trans athlete policies: NPR

President Trump speaks before signing executive orders in the Oval Office on March 6.

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The White House said it was freezing $175 million of federal funding to President Trump’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, citing the school’s policies on transgender athletes.

The White House announced its decision by posting a Fox Business clip on X Wednesday that was sourced to an unnamed White House official.

“President Trump has promised to protect female athletes,” the clip says. “He has threatened to rip federal funding away from any university that defies his executive order banning biological males from infiltrating women’s sports. And he is doing it.”

The decision comes after Trump last month signed an executive order called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which would cut federal funding from educational institutions that allow transgender women and girls to compete in female sports.

Penn received more than $1 billion in federal funds in fiscal year 2024, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. A $175 million freeze would account for about 17.5% of that money.

The Department of Education responded to an NPR inquiry about the funding freeze by referring inquiries to the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services. Neither of the two departments, nor the White House, responded to requests for comment.

The move this week follows a campaign promise and years of rallying against transgender people who compete in sports and serve in the military.

The University of Pennsylvania became a major focal point in the debate in 2022 when a transgender student, Lia Thomas, won three individual swimming events in the women’s Ivy League championships.

Thomas had competed in the men’s league for her first few seasons, during which time she had begun to medically transition.

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