Penn wins the trophy for caving

When the story of institutional cravenness in this dark period is written, University of Pennsylvania will live in the Ninth Circle of Hell. Penn was the first to cut its leader loose for attempting to accurately explain free speech to demagogues. Today, Penn caved in a winnable Title IX investigation arising from the 2021 swim season in which trans woman Lia Thomas competed set records for the school (when everyone understood NCAA rules and Title IX to allow this). Here is the DOE announcement, which is as rhetorically repulsive as one would expect; here is the Penn statement, which is as dishonestly anodyne as one would expect.

Make no mistake from the vague and self-exonerative language: Penn's price is  the targeted, ritual, public humiliation of one known-and-named alumna. "We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines" means that the name of one person will be stripped from record books for doing nothing wrong other than living her gender identity (at a time when that was legal). We "will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time" means apologizing to people because they had to deal with one known-and-named alumna.

The Trump Administration has targeted vulnerable groups in various ways--immigrants, trans people, poor people, Muslims. This goes beyond that to target and hurt one person, by name.

Penn can claim that it "remains committed to fostering a community that is welcoming, inclusive, and open to all students, faculty, and staff." Cashiering an alumna who did nothing wrong but seek to compete and win for the school's benefit reveals the lie in that commitment. Trans sports participation is a "complex issue." Publicly embarrassing one person to save yourself the cost of a winnable fight is not a complex issue.