Penn Signs Education Department Title IX Agreement: Swimming Records Restored, Apology Letters Sent, No Payment Term in the Text

The University of Pennsylvania entered a Title IX agreement with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Dates. The instrument is signed 6/30/2025 under the signature line of President J. Larry Jameson. Inside Higher Ed reported that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights announced the agreement on a Tuesday, the entry date.

What the text requires. The agreement’s opening paragraph says Penn entered it to “resolve the findings of noncompliance with Title IX.” Penn’s proposed statement went to OCR on June 10, 2025. Among the terms, Penn provides intimate facilities “strictly separated on the basis of sex.” For swimming records, Penn must “Officially recognize the restoration” of recognitions to female athletes and send a “personalized letter of apology” to each impacted female swimmer.

What the text does not contain. No payment term appears in the text read, and no monitor or administrator is created: OCR “may visit the University, interview staff, and request such additional reports or data.” The agreement sets no end date; “OCR will close the case” on OCR’s acknowledgment that the commitments are satisfied. Before enforcement, OCR gives written notice and “reasonable opportunity to cure the alleged breach.” The Penn text read contains no sentence disclaiming an admission, which the Brown, UVA and Northwestern texts each include.

The agreement is a list of Title IX actions under a single Education Department investigation, unlike the multi-agency form used for Columbia, Brown and Northwestern. The agreement will “become effective immediately upon the signature” of Penn’s official.