Summary

The Trump administration has frozen $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its policies allowing trans women to compete in women’s sports.

A senior official said this is “just a taste” of further action, with UPenn at risk of losing all federal funding due to a Title IX investigation.

Trump signed an executive order on February 5 banning trans women from women’s sports, citing fairness and safety concerns.

Advocacy groups are challenging the move, arguing it discriminates against trans athletes.

  • halfempty@fedia.io
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    19 hours ago

    The real agenda is to bring down higher education in general. The whole Trans athletes thing is a smokescreen. The fascists consider higher education to be a stronghold of woke liberalism. If if weren’t trans athletes, it would be some other excuse to make the cuts.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      a bunch of college educated fascists have convinced low education whites that education is evil and they should abhor getting an education when they are perfectly fine doing physical labor.

      and totally not because they don’t want the poors to get educated and realized how fascist they are.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    So universities are about to go 0-2 in the fight against a Trump takeover.

    Columbia bent the knee almost immediately. It’ll be interesting to see how long UPenn holds out.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      20 hours ago

      Just pointing out that UPenn is his alma mater. He went to the Warton School of Business and one of his professors called Trump the dumbest student he ever had.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Well that probably explains why he decided to randomly pick on UPenn. He doesn’t care about the trans athletes. His fee-fees were hurt.

        • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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          20 hours ago

          The funniest thing is that the Warton School was one of the first Ivies to get serious about computers. Before they had a separate computer department it was all part of Warton School. With his daddy’s money Trump could have ended up hiring Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but that would have required a tiny amount of brain cells

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours ago

      Columbia bent the knee

      Why do you think that Columbia was “fighting” trump in the first place. They had been trying to deport and ban criticism of Israel for decades, they finally had the opportunity and they are glad of it.

    • Xanza@lemm.ee
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      22 hours ago

      I wouldn’t really call it bending the knee. Schools offer services to students and while making the statement (that trans people are still people) is important denying services to hundreds if not thousands of students (due to lack of funding) who may or may not agree with that position just to make the statement isn’t responsible as an institution.

      I absolutely agree with their attempt to stand up for students rights, and I also agree with their turnaround. There’s a significant and nonzero chance that they could have hurt students even inadvertently by losing that funding and it was responsible of them to think of the entire student body even though the message is very important.

      • OrganicMustard@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        “First they came for the socialists” yada yada.

        It’s nice to be privileged so you can ignore the sufferings of others, but eventually it will reach everyone.

        • Xanza@lemm.ee
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          16 hours ago

          This is such a pathetic cop-out reply it’s not even funny. As if every single person with the opinion that Universities shouldn’t, to the detriment of the entire student body, unilaterally decide for everyone who attends where their political beliefs should be absolutely must be privileged.

          You don’t have to believe that transgenderism is wrong to believe that students should be the ones to decide if they feel that it’s right for genetic men to participate in women’s sports. It needs to be up to the students, and not the institutions to make that a policy. The University itself has no right to make that policy without the consent of the students in the same way they shouldn’t and couldn’t be allowed to segregate students based on race.

          I support trans rights, because I support human rights. It’s not privileged to believe that a public institution has no right to decide the social zeitgeist for the student body–they have no right deciding what is or isn’t acceptable.

          • OrganicMustard@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            Human rights are not up to discussion or vote. It’s not the university or any institution that decide on that, they just have to ensure they are respected.

            • Xanza@lemm.ee
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              6 hours ago

              Human rights are not up to discussion or vote.

              That’s actually exactly how a democratic republic works… Why you think that’s not the case is a little concerning.

              In a democracy you’re allowed to have dissenting opinions. There are people out there that don’t believe kids deserve school lunches. I personally think that’s fucked up, but for me to have my freedoms, ideals and opinions, I have to concede that private citizens also have the freedom to think kids don’t deserve school lunches.

              That’s how it works.

              • Jhex@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                That’s actually exactly how a democratic republic works… Why you think that’s not the case is a little concerning.

                Lol you really need these universities, maybe someday you’ll get to attend one of them

              • OrganicMustard@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                Lol no. That’s just majority rule.

                Democracy has a list of necessary prerequisites in the form of rights and duties. How is it democratic for the majority to be able to vote to kill the rest?

                I’m not discussing anymore with someone who doesn’t have a basic grasp of the concepts.

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        17 hours ago

        Replace “trans students” with “black students” in your justification and ask yourself if you still believe doing what is good for the majority (not “the entirety”) is the most important directive.

        This is exactly how fascism works. “First they came for…” and all.

        • Xanza@lemm.ee
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          16 hours ago

          Firstly, they’re not the same. Pretending that they are is beyond disingenuous. Secondly, segregation affected all institutions in a state. University, primary, public, private. Everything. This doesn’t. It affects a single University and not even the direct student body–only those who participate in sports. It’s also not segregate in nature–no one is saying “trans students can’t attend school here” they’re saying “only genetic females should count as female athletes.”

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            54 minutes ago

            Firstly, they’re not the same. Pretending that they are is beyond disingenuous

            You’re right, there are like a dozen trans college athletes in the entire US. Good point.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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            16 hours ago

            You don’t need to layer more shit on the question until you can justify yourself, just answer the question. If UPenn was told to stop black people from playing sports, would you think it was correct and good for UPenn to conform because most of their students are not black athletes?

            • Xanza@lemm.ee
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              6 hours ago

              Since you won’t acknowledge your red herring even after it being specifically pointed out I just have to operate under the assumption that you’re being disingenuous purposefully. Since no discourse can even be had here because that’s not your intention to begin with, why would I continue this?

              It’s pretty obvious that you disagree, and that’s fine. I’ll flip the script and shoot you a non-red herring in return but I’m really not going to bother responding, because I don’t feel like you’re here for any reason other than to wag your finger on your high horse at others perfectly reasonable opinions;

              Do you believe that UPenn has the right to expel students who protest the war in Gaza? Can they unilaterally stand up and say “any student who protests genocide is expelled.”

              I think that would be pretty fucked up. Hopefully you would, too. Which is why I think it’s best that Universities should be protecting the rights of all their students and not get involved directly in politics. They need to stand up for their trans students, but they also need to be there for their student athletes who have no personal objections to trans students, but don’t think its fair they get to compete in sports which are not for their birth gender. Which is a perfectly reasonable objection. Some of these women athletes work their entire lives to be seen by professional recruiters and if they’re outshined by controversy from trans athletes and the debate of whether or not they should even be there in the first place they could be passed up for entire careers. All things considered, they’re not crazy to give pause…and why Universities should have non-gendered leagues for sports where anyone can play regardless of gender. Why we reduce sports to male and female is so fucking stupid to begin with and such a stupid thing to fight over.

              It’s a complicated issue with no black or white line. And you pretending like there is either wholeheartedly proves your mental immaturity to not be able to see other’s point of views at best, and at worse confirms your ignorance beyond any reasonable doubt.

              • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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                3 hours ago

                They need to stand up for their trans students, but they also need to be there for their student athletes who have no personal objections to trans students, but don’t think its fair they get to compete in sports which are not for their birth gender.

                That’s literally not standing up for rights. Their rights don’t extend to dictating who else can play sports because they think they’d be too good. Hey, you know another group that some people would claim, for some pretty suspect prejudices, they are too good at sports? Black people. There’s certainly a much more disproportionate number of top black athletes than there are top trans athletes.

                And you pretending like there is either wholeheartedly proves your mental immaturity to not be able to see other’s point of views at best, and at worse confirms your ignorance beyond any reasonable doubt.

                Fucking lol, wall-of-text-man who still couldn’t explain precisely why he won’t answer the parallel question and has been universally downvoted since he explained his position enough to make the transphobia evident. Hopefully someday you’ll be embarrassed of your present self.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Schools offer services to students and while making the statement (that trans people are still people) is important denying services to hundreds if not thousands of students (due to lack of funding) who may or may not agree with that position just to make the statement isn’t responsible as an institution.

        I understand your rationale. And in fact, in 99% of circumstances I begrudgingly agree with it. Sometimes, you have to do what’s right for the greater good even if you know it might hurt a few people in the process. But this is not one of those times. And it’s not even because of the specific issues being raised (Protests at Columbia, trans athletes at UPenn, etc.).

        The reason I’m against it is because by so quickly bending the knee for Trump on these issues is that you’re telling your students, community, and alumni that the principles you claim to stand for are up for bid. You’re in favor of trans rights – until trans rights start actually costing you money. You’re in favor of the rights of students to protest – until it effects your funding. What happens when a school promotes support of LGBT issues and then comes in the crosshairs of the Trump Hate Machine? “Sorry guys, but we’ve gotta kick all the gays out. Trump threatened to pull $100 million in funding if we don’t.”? Where do you draw the line?

        It’s one thing to expect that of a regular business. Neither your local mom & pop store nor Wal-Mart are expected to be champions of our freedoms and hold such an important place in our society. Even if I strongly disagree with their decisions, I can understand if they follow where the political and financial winds are blowing. But universities are a completely different beast and play a completely different role in our society.

        • Xanza@lemm.ee
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          16 hours ago

          Sometimes, you have to do what’s right for the greater good even if you know it might hurt a few people in the process.

          I also agree, however, you can’t unilaterally hurt he student body regardless of their beliefs. They also have rights which need and deserve to be protected. Some students might not agree with the official stance of the University and that’s a problem. In the end you’re playing with their future too.

          It would be different if the entirety of the student body stood up and said “We support this!” no one would have any ground to stand on. But this isn’t a “majority rules” type of situation. The school cannot unilaterally make a political stance at the detriment of all students regardless of the student bodies political beliefs. It’s just not appropriate for a public institution to do. They have every right and absolutely should support all of their students. And they should do that by making a non-gendered league for their trans students or any other students who want to participate, to participate in. Then no one would be able to bitch.

          But you have transgender females who were born male, who had the benefit of a decade or more of testosterone to build lean muscle mass that other female athletes don’t have. It’s literally the same affect as doping and they don’t see it as fair–and if you take the argument at face value, it’s not so crack pot as to not merit discussion.

          Everyone has the right to participate in sports. Male, female, lemur, panda, whatever. The question is, is do genetic men have the right to participate in female sports.

  • wanderwisley@lemm.ee
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    20 hours ago

    Remind me again of how many transgender college students have recently been arrested for having sex with a minor?

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    lol UPenn literally does not need anyone’s help.

    Go ahead you dipshit.

    Their endowment could nearly cover tuition for all students in interest alone. (Cost would be 1.9B, interest on their endowment is over 1.1B. not that 800M is chump change but like… They’re doing pretty damn fine)

    This headline seems to further scare us. UPenn barely feels this. This is theater.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        False. They need grants, which are totally separate from this.

        Source: academia.

        UPenn is not going to feel this.

        At all.

          • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
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            22 hours ago

            As someone who just lost a coworker to Upenn, their endowment is pretty massive. If it only takes 175m to change their policy on a deeply held belief, then it will be a massive stain followed by mass protests.

            • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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              22 hours ago

              Again, people thought the same about Columbia. $400 million vs. an endowment of just shy of $15 billion. Shouldn’t have been enough to change their policy on deeply held beliefs either but Columbia couldn’t bend the knee and start rescinding protestors’ diplomas and kowtowing to Trump fast enough.

              • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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                17 hours ago

                I think there’s a good argument that Colombia wasn’t changing a deeply held belief. They were looking for reasons to punch the hippies who were angering their donors right from the start.

          • foggy@lemmy.world
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            21 hours ago

            No they didn’t. Columbia has had ties to Israel since forever.

            And UPenn has way more scratch.

        • DragonTypeWyvern
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          19 hours ago

          Nah, it will, when administration fires a bunch of workers and then gives themselves a raise for accepting the ultimatum.

    • theprogressivist @lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      They’re going to cave instantly and bend the knee. They may not need it, but they’re definitely going to do everything not to lose it, including kowtowing to fascists.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Time will tell. I can’t predict the future but I doubt this, big time.

        We can be doomers all we want but… Columbia and UPenn aren’t the same thing here.

    • AugustWest@lemm.ee
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      21 hours ago

      Trump has already said he would tax endowments. First cut funding, then continually raise taxes on the endowments. He has the tools to destroy universities and no one is going to stop him.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Yes. Very good luck trying to tax endowments without having every billionaire want him dead.

        Not gonna happen.

        • AugustWest@lemm.ee
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          21 hours ago

          What are they going to do about it?

          Edit: let me be clear, would they be angry and want to get revenge, or will they too put pressure on the school to stop woke programs? You can see the easy path here…

          • foggy@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            If Russia and our current trajectory is any indication literally, defenestration.

    • Waldowal@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      All you have to do is make a life altering choice, be ridiculed by half of society in your most formative years, take drugs that forever reshape your body, and YOU TOO CAN WIN AT SWIMMING!

      • OffColor@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        The previous poster did not disparage our trans friends in any way. This particular issue is very complex. It is undeniable that people born male have a natural advantage in virtually every physical activity. In any physical competition where winning is incentivized (such as college athletics where the reward could be scholarships and potential NIL deals), there has to be a discussion.

        All that being said, the number of trans athletes competing at a collegiate level is so small that the withholding of funds is just an outright attack on the trans community and has nothing to do with an earnest discussion about the ethics of female identifying trans competing in women restricted events.

        • taipan@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Trans women are women. The poster made a transphobic comment by falsely referring to trans women as “men”, which obviously disparages trans women.

        • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          Yep, Trump is a piece of shit, but this issue is complex and there are no easy answers. It should have zero impact on funding that’s just Trump being a bag of dicks.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            Its such a complex issue that scientists have already answered it multiple times, and that no trans athlete is dominating their sport as further proof.

            But we cant let that get in the way of trying to put on a big show of fake and reasonable sounding concern trolling about the issue just like the right wingers do.