The United States Department of Education sent a letter to the NCAA and the NFHS urging both organizations to strip the accolades of trans athletes and reward them to female athletes.
The United States Department of Education is calling on the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to strip the records and awards “misappropriated” by transgender athletes competing in girls and women’s sports less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively banning them from competition.
The statement follows a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) to the NCAA and the NFHS on Tuesday urging the organization to “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”
The statement went on to call on the organizations to strip any accolades from those athletes that “unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics,” adding that doing so would align the groups with the new policy.
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Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order on Wednesday, which will require entities that receive federal funding to align with Title IX, which the Trump administration changed last week to recognize protections on the basis of biological sex — undoing former President Joe Biden’s 2024 rewrite.
Surrounded by female athletes, Trump declared at the signing ceremony that “the war on women’s sports is over.”
In response to the executive order, NCAA President Charlie Baker later released a statement stating that the Board of Governors would review the executive order and take steps to align the organization’s policy in the coming days.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” the statement read.
“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”
The following day the NCAA officially updated its gender eligibility policy that “limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”
Candice Jackson, Deputy General Counsel, said in a statement Tuesday that the NCAA’s decision to change its policy was only the first step.
“The next necessary step is to restore athletic records to women who have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades. The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes.”
The executive order has been met with pushback.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week.
The Education department’s latest plea is also expected to be met with similar rebuffs.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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