By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
Following an executive order signed by the Trump Administration, the NCAA Board of Governors voted to open men’s sports to all eligible student-athletes and restrict the women’s category to only student-athletes assigned female at birth. The NCAA announced Thursday that the policy is effective immediately and applies to all student-athletes regardless of previous eligibility rules.
The updated participation policy states that schools are “directed to foster welcoming environments on all campuses.” The initiative aims to promote collegiate athletic cultures that include people of all genders while following the restrictions in President Donald Trump’s executive order. The policy permits student-athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women’s teams without receiving any benefits.
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
The news comes one day after President Trump’s executive order was signed with the intention to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said Wednesday.
Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was in the room with Trump when he signed the executive order and has long been an advocate for banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA last year, claiming a violation of their Title IX rights by allowing a transgender woman to compete at the national championships in 2022.
According to the Associated Press, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s order “upholds the promise of Title IX” and called for “immediate action.” The NCAA was the first large conference to formally change its guidelines to meet the restrictions called for in the order.
“This national standard brings much-needed clarity as we modernize college sports for today’s student-athletes,” Baker said.
In December, Baker said during a congressional hearing that he believed there were fewer than 10 transgender athletes among all NCAA programs but that he would welcome any future restrictions or regulations. Baylor does not currently have a transgender student-athlete on a women’s roster.
The new policy also states that all NCAA schools must follow regulations imposed at the local, state and federal level, as they supersede the NCAA rules.
