The NCAA announced an updated policy on transgender student-athletes Thursday afternoon, limiting participation in women’s sporting competitions to only those assigned female at birth.
The order, approved by the NCAA’s Board of Governors, is in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order signed Wednesday, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
“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,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a Thursday statement. "To that end, President Trump's order provides a clear, national standard.”
Student-athletes who were assigned male at birth but now identify as female are still permitted to practice with women’s teams and receive medical treatment as participants in those sports.
Duke athletics declined The Chronicle's request for comment.
In a December Senate hearing, Baker said he knew of “less than 10” transgender student-athletes currently competing at the collegiate level. Duke’s former transgender athletes include Quinn, a Canadian soccer player who played for the Blue Devils between 2013 and 2017. Now a midfielder for Vancouver Rise FC, Quinn came out publicly in 2020 and was the first openly transgender and nonbinary athlete to compete in the Olympics.
The NCAA previously implemented a transgender student-athlete policy in January 2022, which determined transgender athletes’ eligibility on a sport-by-sport basis and deferred authority to the national governing body for each sport. Transgender student-athletes had to document testosterone levels at the beginning of their season in accordance with their respective sport’s rules.
In the Thursday order, the NCAA noted that individual schools “are subject to local, state and federal legislation,” all of which supersedes NCAA policy. In August 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly overrode a veto by then-Gov. Roy Cooper, barring transgender athletes from competing in most collegiate, high school and middle school sports starting in the 2023-24 season.
The executive order signed by Trump is backed by the Department of Education, and schools that disobey the order are vulnerable to losing federal funding. Duke received $649 million in federal revenue in fiscal year 2021.
The order uses the administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs. The Department of Education announced Thursday it will investigate the University of Pennsylvania, San Jose State University and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for possible Title IX violations. Trump’s nominee to the Education Department, Linda McMahon, will have her Senate confirmation hearing Feb. 13.
The Biden administration proposed a rule in April 2023 that would have prohibited K-12 schools and universities from barring transgender athletes who compete on teams that align with their gender identities. However, the administration dropped the proposal in December, citing legal complications with Title IX and public feedback.
Several states have enacted bans similar to North Carolina’s on transgender student-athletes competing in women’s sports, many of which have been challenged in the courts. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Idaho’s ban in 2023, and the new order by the Trump administration is likely to face legal challenges from individual plaintiffs.
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Ranjan Jindal is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.