Bowing to national outcry and Trump pressure, University of Maine bars transgenders from women's sport
Augusta, Maine: The University of Maine System (UMS) has announced that it is now in compliance with federal and state laws, as well as updated NCAA rules, on barring transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
This comes after the Trump administration alleged that UMS violated Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational programs, and threatened to suspend federal funding to the system, which includes seven universities across Maine.
UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy expressed relief in a statement to NBC News, saying, “We are relieved to put the Department’s Title IX compliance review behind us so the land-grant University of Maine and our statewide partners can continue to leverage USDA and other essential federal funds to strengthen and grow our natural resource economy and dependent rural communities through world-class education, research, and extension.”
In the 2024 fiscal year, UMS received nearly $30 million in USDA funding.
The announcement followed a USDA statement on Wednesday affirming UMS’s compliance with Title IX and Trump’s executive order, which prohibits transgender women and girls from participating in female sports. The order, signed last month, argues that including transgender women in female sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls", and mandates the withdrawal of federal funds from non-compliant institutions. Earlier, on March 11, UMS disclosed that the USDA had temporarily paused its funding while evaluating potential violations.
Samantha Warren, UMS’s chief external affairs officer, reiterated that Maine’s public universities have always complied with state and federal laws and NCAA rules, including the updated policy in February limiting women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth.
The NCAA had previously adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes in 2022 but revised its policy last month to align with Trump’s executive order. UMS maintains it has consistently adhered to all applicable laws and regulations.
President Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills recently clashed over policies concerning transgender athletes in women's sports. The dispute escalated during a White House event where Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine unless the state complied with his executive order banning transgender women from female sports categories.
Governor Mills responded by asserting adherence to state and federal laws, leading to a heated exchange where she stated, "See you in court," to which Trump replied, "Good, I'll see you in court. I look forward to that."
Following this confrontation, the U. Department of Education initiated an investigation into Maine's policies, asserting that allowing transgender girls to participate in girls' sports violates Title IX antidiscrimination laws.