Penn is running out the clock on the women it failed

Penn is running out the clock on three former Penn swimmers over Lia Thomas’s participation in the 2021–22 season¹: 2022 graduate Grace Estabrook and 2024 graduates Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist filed suit in February 2025².

All three competed with Lia Thomas during the 2021–22 women’s swimming and diving season. Estabrook, a 2022 graduate, and Kaczorowski and Holmquist, 2024 graduates, filed suit in February 2025, alleging Penn, Harvard, the Ivy League and the NCAA violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete in women’s events. The lawsuit says the women were deprived of “equal opportunities as women to compete and win while being denied the opportunity to protect their privacy in separate and equal locker rooms.” Penn got the delay it asked for, and the women are still waiting for their day in court. On Wednesday, a federal court granted Penn’s request to indefinitely stay the suit¹. Penn would rather wait than answer for it.

The suit alleges lost places and privacy

Kaczorowski finished sixth in the 100 freestyle and seventh in the 200 freestyle at the 2022 Ivy League Championships, and Thomas won both events. The lawsuit says Kaczorowski would have placed higher had Thomas not competed. The lawsuit states that Holmquist was left off the Ivy League roster due to Thomas’ participation². Who answers for a lost roster spot and a lost locker room?

Penn apologized but still seeks delay

In July 2025, Penn reached a resolution with the Department of Education to settle an investigation into the same matter. After that agreement, Penn removed Thomas’ individual records, issued a public statement noting its adoption of “biology-based definitions” of sex, and sent letters of apology to the swimmers affected¹.

Penn put those steps on the record, then asked the court to wait.

Penn calls delay efficiency, not an answer

Penn’s strongest argument is procedural: after the Gaines dismissal, Penn argued the stay should stay in place until the appeals in that case are exhausted². Penn argued the delay would avoid duplicative litigation and conflicting rulings, hoping to wait until the appeals process concludes¹.

Penn also argues the plaintiffs “cannot establish causation against Penn.”³ Efficiency is not an answer to a woman who lost a place on a roster. If Penn believes it caused no injury, why keep the women waiting to hear it?

Women’s sports need enforceable protections

Shortly after the suit was filed, President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports¹. The NCAA says it is in full compliance with that order. Yet its current rule lets students assigned male at birth practice with women’s teams³.

In the Gaines case, U.S. District Judge Tiffany Johnson ruled that Title IX did not apply to the NCAA because it did not receive federal funding³. A practice rule does not restore a roster spot already lost, and a family with a daughter on a college or high school team should not need a lawsuit to learn whether the rules will hold.

Let the women be heard

Penn asked the court to wait, and the women are asking to be heard. Lift the stay and let Estabrook, Kaczorowski and Holmquist put their claims before a judge.

Congress should write women’s sports protections clear enough that no institution or sports governing body can sidestep them. Parents and lawmakers should watch whether the stay is lifted and hold Penn and the NCAA to the claims waiting in court. Four years is long enough to wait for an answer.

Sources

1. University moves to keep former Penn swimmers’ Title IX lawsuit in limbo - The Daily Pennsylvanian
2. Former Penn Swimmers' Title IX Lawsuit Regarding Lia Thomas Participation Indefinitely Stayed
3. NCAA seeks dismissal of former Penn swimmers’ Title IX lawsuit after judge tosses similar case - The Daily Pennsylvanian