U.S. Department of Education Announces Wagner College Has Entered into a Resolution Agreement to Resolve its Title IX Concerns

Today, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced Wagner College (Wagner) has entered into a Resolution Agreement to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). Wagner has voluntarily agreed to resolve concerns identified by the Department's Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) directed investigation into the college for allegedly allowing males to compete in women's sports.

OCR alongside the Title IX Special Investigations Team, run jointly by the Department and the U.S. Department of Justice, initiated the investigation after Stephanie Turner, a female athlete, forfeited a USA Fencing match by taking a knee because her opponent was a biological male competing in the female-only category.

"On the heels of our agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, the Trump Administration secured another historic Title IX agreement with Wagner College. After Stephanie Turner, a female athlete, bravely took a knee and forfeited a fencing match against a male competing in a female category, our Office for Civil Rights launched its investigation into Wagner College and the University of Maryland, where the event was hosted. Wagner has agreed to apologize for putting a male on their female fencing team and will revise its policies to comply with Title IX," said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. "Because of President Trump's leadership, the tide is turning on our nation's campuses. We commend Wagner College for working with the Department to repair its harm to female athletes and ensuring future generations of women and girls have equal opportunities."

Wagner has signed OCR's Resolution Agreement to resolve its Title IX violations, agreeing to the following:

• Wagner will amend its athletic policy to adopt biology-based definitions for the words "male" and "female" pursuant to Title IX;
• Wagner will issue a public statement to the college community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that Title IX forbids Wagner from allowing male students to compete in female athletic programs and from occupying female intimate facilities;
• The statement will specify that Title IX applies irrespective of any current or future policies that may conflict with the statement, and that Wagner will not delegate its obligation to comply with Title IX to an external association that discriminates on the basis of sex;
• Wagner will post the statement in a prominent location on its main website and on each of its websites for women's athletics;
• Wagner will rescind any guidance that authorized males to compete in women's athletics, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX, and notify all staff and women's athletics teams of all such rescissions; and
• Wagner will issue a personalized letter of apology to any Wagner College female fencer and issue a public statement of apology to all female athletes who were required to compete against a male in a Wagner athletics program designated for women.

According to the agreement, Wagner has reviewed whether any male student athlete competing in women's athletics for Wagner College received any individual athletic records or recognitions by Wagner for athletic competitions and determined that no such recognitions were received.

Background

Wagner College allowed a biological male athlete to compete on the Wagner College women's fencing team in several meets during the first half of the 2024-2025 season. This individual previously competed on the Wagner men's fencing team during the 2023-2024 season. After switching to the female team, the male athlete won the top prize at the Connecticut Division Junior Olympic Qualifiers in the women's category in December 2024.

On April 14, 2025, after Stephanie Turner forfeited the fencing match against the male athlete in March, the Department's OCR, in tandem with the Title IX Special Investigations Team, initiated a directed investigation into Wagner College for allegedly violating women's equal opportunity protections by allowing this athlete to compete on the Wagner female fencing team. Although the male athlete, a student at Wagner, participated as an individual entrant in this particular match, Wagner had allowed him to compete on its women's fencing team.

After the Department's investigation, USA Fencing, which sponsored the April 14 match, changed its policies to reflect that effective today, males are not allowed to compete in the women's category.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Contact