Browsing: Riley Gaines

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.

How should we address these types of controversial questions? We need to be able to create safe spaces for these discussions. That means acknowledging that everyone’s experiences are valid, recognizing that their political philosophy does not determine their worth as a human being and using respectful rhetoric.

In March 2022, Riley Gaines — a 12-time NCAA swimmer from the University of Kentucky — lost the 200-meter freestyle race by a hundredth of a second to Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete from the University of Pennsylvania. Wednesday evening, Gaines visited Baylor to speak to students about how allowing transgender athletes to compete in collegiate sports goes against what Title IX vows to protect.