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The U.S. Department of Education and Wagner College have reached an agreement regarding the participation of biologically male transgender athletes in women’s sports. This agreement follows a notable incident involving female fencer Stephanie Turner kneeling in protest against a transgender fencer from Wagner College during a USA Fencing event.
As per the DOE announcement, Wagner College has agreed to issue apologies to all female athletes who competed against the transgender athlete, Redmond Sullivan. Additionally, the school will be implementing new biological definitions for male and female in its sports programs.
Stephanie Turner kneels in front of Red Sullivan at a fencing event in April 2025. (Courtesy of ICONS)
Footage of Turner kneeling in front of Sullivan at the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland went viral in early April. Turner received a black card, the most severe penalty in the sport, for refusing to fence against Sullivan, who was subsequently disqualified from the event and placed on a 12-month probation.
Sullivan was not representing Wagner College at the event.
Wagner College later confirmed that Sullivan was no longer part of the fencing team. The NCAA had adjusted its gender eligibility policy to align with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the matter in early February.
Wagner College is now working directly with the Trump administration to address the incident.
The agreement comes shortly after the University of Pennsylvania reached a similar agreement following the Lia Thomas controversy in 2022.
“Following our agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, the Trump Administration has achieved another significant Title IX agreement with Wagner College. After Stephanie Turner, a female athlete, courageously took a stand and forfeited a fencing match against a male competitor in a female category, our Office for Civil Rights initiated an investigation into Wagner College and the University of Maryland, where the event took place. Wagner has agreed to apologize for allowing a male to compete on their female fencing team and will revise its policies to comply with Title IX,” stated Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, there is a shift happening on college campuses across the nation. We commend Wagner College for collaborating with the Department to rectify the harm done to female athletes and ensure that future generations of women and girls have equal opportunities.”
The Department of Education outlined a set of conditions:
- Wagner will update its athletic policy to incorporate biology-based definitions for “male” and “female” in accordance with Title IX;
- Wagner will issue a public statement to the college community stating its compliance with Title IX, emphasizing that the law prohibits male students from participating in female athletic programs and utilizing female intimate facilities;
- The statement will emphasize that Title IX applies regardless of any existing or future policies that may conflict with it, and that Wagner will not delegate its responsibility to comply with Title IX to an external association that discriminates based on sex;
- Wagner will prominently display the statement on its main website and on each of its women’s athletics websites;
- Wagner will retract any guidance that permitted males to compete in women’s athletics, revise or remove any statements or documents inconsistent with Title IX, and inform all staff and women’s athletics teams of these retractions;
- Wagner will issue a personalized apology letter to any female fencer at Wagner College and issue a public apology to all female athletes who were required to compete against a male in a women’s athletics program at Wagner.
- As per the agreement, Wagner has verified that no male student-athlete competing in women’s athletics for Wagner College received any individual athletic records or recognitions from Wagner for athletic competitions.
Wagner College released a statement to its student body stating that it has “resolved” matters related to the Title IX investigation and has agreed on several key points with the Office of Civil Rights.
“OCR’s investigation focused on the participation of one Wagner student in women’s fencing for a semester prior to the issuance of the 2025 Executive Orders mentioned above. I want to clarify that by allowing that student to participate, Wagner was abiding by the NCAA and USA Fencing rules in effect at the time. Our agreement with OCR confirms that there was no admission or finding of wrongdoing by the College,” stated school president Jeffrey Doggett. “Wagner has followed and will continue to follow the laws and regulations as we interpret them. We acknowledge, however, that some student-athletes were negatively affected by Wagner’s adherence to those rules. We sincerely apologize to those who faced a competitive disadvantage and regret any distress caused by the College’s compliance with the policies in place at the time.”
Fox News’ Ryan Canfield contributed to this report.
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