OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:50 PM – Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively prohibiting trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, the U.S. Department of Education is urging the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to remove the records and awards that trans athletes “misappropriated” from these sports.
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The announcement comes after the Office of General Counsel (OGC) of the U.S. Department of Education wrote to the NCAA and the NFHS on Tuesday, requesting that the organization “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”
It continued, urging the organizations to remove any honors from trans-identifying biological male athletes who “unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics,” stating that doing so would bring the organizations into compliance with the new rule.
The “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order, which Trump signed on Wednesday, will mandate that organizations that receive federal funding comply with Title IX. The Trump administration modified the law last week to acknowledge protections based on biological sex, reversing the 2024 revision made by former President Joe Biden.
At the signing ceremony, surrounded by female athletes, Trump declared that “the war on women’s sports is over.”
In a subsequent statement, NCAA President Charlie Baker responded to the executive order by stating that the Board of Governors would examine it and take action to align the organization’s policy within the next few 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 said.
“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 next day, the NCAA updated its gender policy that “limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, Deputy General Counsel Candice Jackson asserted that the NCAA’s policy reform was just the beginning.
“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.”
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