On Tuesday, the Department of Education announced that the University of Pennsylvania agreed to resolve Title IX violations involving Will “Lia” Thomas, the male swimmer who masqueraded as a woman and robbed female athletes of awards and opportunities.
Thomas competed against women in the 2021-2022 season after he competed as a male for three consecutive years. Of course, he wasn’t a stellar athlete when he competed against men. That all changed when he competed against women. Thomas, who is over 6 feet tall, shamelessly competed against women all the way through to the NCAA championships.
As Townhall noted, Thomas will be stripped of all his titles and the school will be required to issue an apology for allowing him to compete.
Former UPenn swimmer Paula Scanlan was one of Thomas’ teammates who bravely spoke out about her experience being forced to compete and share a locker room with Thomas, who is a man.
Townhall previously reported how Scanlan gave an interview where she explained that UPenn’s athletic department scared the female athletes into silence about the situation.
“There was something going on in that athletic department that wanted to keep us quiet. And I was like, ‘this is getting scary,’” Scanlan explained at the time. She added that girls were told in a meeting, without Thomas present, “do not talk to the media, you will regret it.”
“Another thing they said is, ‘Lia’s swimming is non-negotiable,’ and then they provided us with counseling services to help us be okay with Lia swimming,” she added. “I was petrified.”
“They [UPenn] continued to tell us that our opinions were wrong and if we had an issue with it we were the problem,” she said, adding that they made the girls think their future jobs were on the line if they spoke out.
It appears that the school administrators were not the only ones pressuring women like Scanlan to keep quiet. One of Scanlan’s own teammates sent her a message demanding that she “stop speaking on behalf of the whole team.”
According to a screenshot shared by Scanlan on X, the message was sent on Dec. 9, 2021, which was smack-dab in the middle of the season with Thomas on the women’s team.
“If the assumptions are true, which I believe they are because you have shared publicly on social media, that you are the anonymous teammate going to the media with your opinions stop speaking on behalf of the whole team,” the teammate said.
“You’re welcome to hold your transphobic views and blabber to whoever will listen but do not pull myself or the rest of the team into this without consulting anyone. This is pathetic and I’m disgusted by the quotes I read,” she added.
yes, this is a real text I received from a teammate after I started talking to @Outkick about what was going on on our team
— Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) July 2, 2025
Scanlan confirmed that this was sent to her after she began speaking to the media about Thomas.
She also posted screenshots of the emails she received from Penn after the announcement.
In the letter, the school seemingly defended its decision to allow Thomas to compete against women, as “policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA rules at the time.”
the email I just got from penn- I think this is just the generic email for all penn students or student athletes 🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/PiyCf5GH7t
— Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) July 1, 2025
In a separate email, the school said that their commitment “to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering.”
Just got this email that was sent to the whole upenn community… pic.twitter.com/RWnzmkxpf2
— Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) July 1, 2025
