The University of Maine System is now cooperating with federal, state, and NCAA policies on transgender athletes after the Trump administration threatened to pull funding.
The University of Maine System said Friday that it was found to be in compliance with the law regarding transgender athletes, after the state was found in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 last month.
Under the Trump administration, Title IX protections are being implemented on the basis of biological sex — not gender identity. President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
The administration gave the state of Maine a 10-day deadline on March 18 to resolve Title IX violations for allowing biological males who identify as female to compete in women’s school sports.
The Trump administration launched a Title IX investigation into the state after Trump argued with Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) during a meeting with the nation’s governors. Trump threatened to pull federal funding if Maine did not comply with his executive order barring transgender women from female sports.
“You better comply, because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding,” Trump said.
Mills responded, “We’ll see you in court.”
The Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights found the Maine Department of Education in violation of Title IX on Feb. 21 and expanded the violation notice to include the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School on March 5.
Earlier this month, the Department of Agriculture announced it was temporarily pulling its funding for the University of Maine system while the agency evaluates “if it should take any follow-on actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations.”
University of Maine chancellor Dannel Malloy said the school system is “relieved” to put the matter “behind us,” in a statement to NBC News.
“We are relieved to put the Department’s Title IX compliance review behind us so the land-grant University of Maine and our statewide partners can continue to leverage USDA and other essential federal funds to strengthen and grow our natural resource economy and dependent rural communities through world-class education, research and extension,” Malloy said.
The Trump administration recently suspended around $175 million for the University of Pennsylvania over it’s transgender athlete policies “forcing women to compete with men in sports.” UPenn has not said whether it will change its policy.
TRACKING WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The same day the University of Maine conceded to Trump’s demands to comply with Title IX, Columbia University agreed to make a slew of changes requested by the Trump administration to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Trump administration pulled $400 million in funding from Columbia University for violating Title VI after it was deemed that the school wasn’t doing enough to protect Jewish students on campus from a wave of antisemitism related to anti-Israel activity.
