Wagner College has entered a resolution agreement to comply with the Department of Education’s Title IX investigation into a transgender athlete on the college’s fencing team.
According to U.S. DOE, the investigation began after a female athlete forfeited a match against a Wagner College competitor, alleging that the athlete was a transgender woman competing in a female-only category. That competitor previously participated on Wagner’s men’s team in the 2023-24 season, but was competing on the women’s team in the 2024-25 season. They won the Connecticut Division Junior Olympic Qualifiers as a woman in December 2024.
The DOE investigation alleged that Wagner was violating Title IX by allowing the transgender athlete to compete on the women’s team. During this investigation, USA Fencing changed its policies to bar men and transgender women from competing in the women’s category.
“Our Office for Civil Rights launched its investigation into Wagner College and the University of Maryland, where the event was hosted. Wagner has agreed to apologize for putting a male on their female fencing team and will revise its policies to comply with Title IX,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “We commend Wagner College for working with the Department to repair its harm to female athletes and ensuring future generations of women and girls have equal opportunities.”
Wagner College has agreed to change its athletics policy to define and exclusively use the terms “male” and “female.” The school will also issue a new Title IX statement forbidding male students from participating on female teams or using female facilities, that statement will be located on all Wagner’s main websites. An apology statement will also be issued to the female fencer who forfeited against the transgender competitor.
Throughout the investigation, no transgender athlete was found to have received any awards or recognitions from the Wagner athletics department.
