In the latest slew of executive orders affecting educational institutions, on February 5, 2025, President Trump signed an order titled, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports." This order states, "it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities...and oppose male competitive participation in women's sports more broadly." As seen in previous executive orders, Trump cites to his January 20, 2025 executive order, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," to determine the applicable definitions for the instant order.
While the new executive order calls for numerous action items, we believe some of the key provisions for our education clients are as follows:
- Relying on Title IX as a basis for these policy changes, the executive order provides that the secretary of education is to: "take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms" and bring regulations and policy guidance into line with Congress' existing demand for "equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes" by clearly specifying and clarifying that women's sports are reserved for women. The executive order also prioritizes Title IX enforcement actions against, and potentially rescinds funding to, educational institutions (including athletic associations composed of or governed by such institutions) that deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women's category, to compete with or against, or to appear unclothed before men; and
- The executive order further provides that the secretary of state shall rescind support for and participation in people-to-people sports exchanges or other sports programs within which the relevant female sports category is based on identity and not sex.
As a result of this executive order, on February 6, 2025, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) changed its policy for transgender athletes by limiting competition in women's sports only to athletes assigned female at birth, which went into effect immediately. Further, the NCAA will not permit competition on a women's team by student-athletes assigned female at birth who have begun hormone therapy (e.g., testosterone) at the time of such competition. This new policy applies to all athletes regardless of their previous eligibility status.
Notwithstanding this prompt change in NCAA's competition policy, the NCAA will continue to permit athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women's teams and any athlete, regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, to practice and compete with men's teams. The NCAA's new policy nevertheless acknowledges that colleges and universities are still subject to state, local and federal legislation and that such legislation supersedes the rules of the NCAA. It remains to be seen how the conflicting standards between state and local laws that protect transgender individuals will be reconciled with the new executive order.
As we mentioned here, as the executive orders and directives impacting educational institutions are currently changing at a rapid pace and will likely face legal challenges, we encourage you to consult with counsel regarding implementation of changes in connection with these issues as we continue to monitor ongoing developments.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
