RENÉ GARRETT, Staff Writer—

It was on January 19th that the NCAA Board of Governors announced its policy on transgender student athlete participation. 

Recently established, the NCAA will now govern participation on a “sport-by-sport” basis. What this means is deference to the National Governing Body (NGB) of the sport, in the case of swimming it would be USA Swimming. If there is no NGB for the sport, deference proceeds to an international federation; again in swimming this would be Fédération Internationale de Natation. 

Ultimately, if there is no international federation to govern, deference is finally placed against the policies of the International Olympic Committee. Mark Emmert has been quoted by NCAA stating, “Aproximatley 80% of U.S. Olympians are either current or former college athletes.”

Where the NCAA continues to require “sport-specific” testosterone levels weeks, and in most cases months, before competing, in other areas the NCAA has effectively decided not to regulate the issue in its policy deference. This policy change comes after University of Pennsylvania swimmer and NCAA champion, Lia Thomas made headlines with top placements in 200, 500, and 1650-yard freestyle. 

Ultimately, the difference in the policy decisions played a role in Thomas’ emergence as a top swimmer, but the policy evades responsibility overall. When the NCAA’s latest policy on trans student athletes debuted, Dr. Rhea Debussy, Associate Director of Kenyon College’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion published an open letter immediately dissociating from the NCAA Division III LGBTQ+ One Team Program in protest of their updated policies.  

While Lia Thomas has swept NCAA swim meets, in an interview on Denison’s campus, Debussy maintains that NCAA policy changes are part of a larger effort to “regulate trans bodies out of sports.” 

The policies the NCAA have had in the past are troubling. For transmasculine student athletes, a shorthand for assigned female at birth (AFAB), competition can begin immediately. Meanwhile transfeminine student athletes, individuals assigned male at birth (AMAB), were required to undergo hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for a year. These policy shifts take place alongside the 100s of anti-trans bills authored in 2022 alone – most of which negatively affect the rights of trans minors. 

Debussy mentions in their One Team resignation letter that in 2016, after review of H.B.2 in North Carolina, which required “gender diverse people to use the bathroom facilities that correspond to their sex assinged at birth,” the NCAA pulled multiple championships. 

Debussy continues, “The NCAA, just last year, awarded championship tournaments to multiple states that had actually passed legislation which limits the participation of gender diverse student-athletes.” 

Debussy also shared that some states even have anti trans legislation on the books that require transfeminine and transmasculine athletes to compete in sports to correspond to their sex assigned at birth. 

“Meaning that trans guys are allowed to participate–but only on women’s teams. If we’re contextualizing this within the context of fairness, we’re misgendering student-athletes and forcing them to compete on teams that do not align with their gender identities. But if the concern is really about protecting women’s sports, then forcing trans guys to compete on women’s teams clearly shows that this isn’t the real concern. Simply put, it’s a transphobic, false flag argument” Debussy said.