The administration of the US President Donald Trump has frozen $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania because the institution allows transgender athletes to compete in womenʼs sports.
This was reported by the White House press service.
They said they had suspended funding "due to policies that force women to compete with men in sports".
In early February 2025, three former University of Pennsylvania swimmers filed a lawsuit claiming they were discriminated against when a transgender teammate beat them at the 2022 Ivy League
After taking office, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from participating in womenʼs sports.
The Trump administrationʼs freeze on funding for the University of Pennsylvania also signals an escalation in federal scrutiny of elite universities, as political pressure mounts over their handling of campus unrest and allegations of discrimination.
The federal government previously suspended $400 million in funding to Columbia University due to campus protests and accusations of anti-Semitism by Jewish students at the New York institution.
The Trump administration explained the cancellation of grants and contracts by saying that the university allegedly failed to adequately respond to cases of anti-Semitic harassment on and near campus.
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