Some researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recently received orders to halt their work, after President Donald Trump’s administration paused $175 million in funding over the inclusion – a few years ago – of a transgender woman on the college’s female swim team.
The frozen federal funding is impacting faculty conducting studies about “preventing hospital-acquired infections, drug screening against deadly viruses, quantum computing, protections against chemical warfare, and student loan programs,” Penn President J. Larry Jameson wrote in a message last week.
“Federal funding freezes and cancellations jeopardize lifesaving and life-improving research, the loss of which will be felt by society and individuals far beyond our campus for years to come,” he added.
News of the move came March 19, when Fox Business reported that the Trump administration was suspending discretionary dollars earmarked for the West Philadelphia-based college from the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services.
A White House account on X, formerly known as Twitter, reposted the television network’s coverage, remarking “promises made, promises kept.”
Penn officials, in the hours after the announcement, said they had not been notified of the freeze or received any details. Jameson, in his March 25 letter, confirmed that professors from seven of the university’s schools with federal contracts had received orders to pause projects.
“These stop work orders are in addition to several federal grants that have been cancelled recently, and the slowing down of the award of grants going forward,” he wrote. “We are actively pursuing multiple avenues to understand and address these funding terminations, freezes, and slowdowns.”
Lia Thomas, the athlete in question, has not competed for Penn since 2022, when she won an NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle. Thomas was a member of the university’s men’s team before transitioning, and her story became part of an intense debate over transgender women in sports.
Jameson said Penn does not have an internal transgender athletic policy and was only following NCAA rules when it allowed Thomas to join the female squad.
The NCAA and the Ivy League updated its regulations after Trump issued an executive order Feb. 5 entitled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” and Jameson wrote that Penn will abide by the associations’ new policies.
Trump’s action directed the federal government to rescind grants from schools permitting transgender women to participate in all-female sports and prioritize investigations into institutions suspected of not abiding by the policy.
A day after the order was issued, the U.S. The Department of Education said it was opening a probe of Penn for reported violations of Title IX, a law to prevent sex-based discrimination in schools, with Thomas specifically mentioned in the announcement.
At around the same time, in early February, three former Penn swimmers sued the college, NCAA, Ivy League and Harvard University over Thomas being allowed to join the women’s team.
“I was happy that someone was finally making Penn take accountability for their actions,” one of the plaintiffs, Margot Kaczorowski, told “Fox & Friends” earlier this month, commenting on the funding freeze. “We need to make sure that no other universities put their women and girls through this.”
In addition to the $175 million, Penn stands to lose $240 million if the Trump administration is successfully able to cap indirect research expenses through the National Institutes of Health, university officials have said. A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure.
Penn, in response to the financial uncertainty, has implemented a hiring freeze; a pause on mid-year salary adjustments; and a review of capital spending programs.
The White House has also been withholding $400 million from Columbia University over concerns about antisemitism amid widespread pro-Palestine activism.
Notices were sent to 60 educational institutions, including Temple University, Drexel University and Swarthmore College, earlier this month warning of potential loss of funding if the schools do not do enough to protect Jewish students.
