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Texas Women’s Alums Write Letter on Lia Thomas’ Participation in NCAA Championships
On the eve of the women’s NCAA Championships, a group of Texas women’s alums sent a letter to Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and executive senior associate athletic director Chris Plonsky regarding the participation of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the meet. The letter was spearheaded by Katy Arris-Wilson, who was part of Longhorns’ national-title-winning teams in 1990 and 1991, and it included many members of the 1991 team along with other top Texas swimmers in the 1980s, and the letter was also sent to NCAA President Mark Emmert and the organization’s Board of Governors.
In the letter, the group seeks to “implore the University to exercise its leadership and influence to protect women’s swimming.” The letter discusses the importance of following current research to determine policies for transgender women’s participation in women’s sport, and the group praises USA Swimming legislation that establishes a detailed process for determining transgender eligibility. Further, the letter repeatedly discusses fairness concerns around the possibility that Thomas could challenge records established by legends Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky.
As for the current NCAA Championships, the group recommends that Thomas only be allowed to compete as an exhibition swimmer at NCAAs and that if she would compete, that results not be made official until Thomas’ eligibility is confirmed and that any record Thomas set would not be permitted to count.
Read the full text of the letter below:
Dear Athletic Director Director Del Conte and Executive Sr Associate Athletic Director Plonsky,
We write to express our concern regarding transgender women competing against biological women in NCAA swimming. As the class of 1990 UT National Championship team that recently raised over $180K to name the first lane in the Eddie Reese outdoor pool, we write to express our views and request information on how the University of Texas is responding to this threat to women’s swimming, and all women’s sports. Additional signatories to this letter outside of the 1990 team include UT alums who are National Champions, Olympians and UT Hall of Honor inductees from the 1980s. We implore the University to exercise its leadership and influence to protect women’s swimming. Specifically we advocate for the adoption of our governing body’s, USA Swimming, policy as the NCAA originally indicated it would. We also respectfully request specific steps be taken to appropriately categorize swims by transwoman Lia Thomas in the upcoming NCAA Championships.
While we believe in the mission of the NCAA – to cultivate an environment that emphasizes academics, fairness and well-being across college sports – we feel that the NCAA has failed a large segment of its constituency with regards to fairness when making its most recent decision to allow transgender women to compete against biological females at the upcoming 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Current science should be driving this decision. There is no ambiguity in the case of the University of Pennsylvania’s transgender woman swimmer Lia Thomas. Her performances this past year offer compelling evidence that her period of testosterone suppression therapy was simply insufficient to mitigate her male puberty advantage thus creating an uneven playing field for the biological females against who she competes. Lia went from being ranked #462 as a male competing in the 200-yard freestyle to being ranked #1 as a transgender woman. What further evidence is needed?
The NCAA’s original transgender inclusion policy seems to have relied in part upon the opinion of Dr. Nick Gorton that “Transgender student-athletes fall within the spectrum of physical traits found in athletes of their transitional gender, allowing them to compete fairly and equitably.” Based on a search of the medical literature, it appears that Dr. Gorton has not performed any research studies in the field of physiology, specifically exercise physiology or sports medicine. It is also unclear whether Dr. Gorton has any special training in exercise physiology, formal research experience, or research publications that would make him an authority on this issue, despite him perhaps understanding its complexities from a personal perspective. Scientific research performed by properly trained research investigators using established scientific methodology that produces credible peer-reviewed scientific results should be the evidence used by the NCAA to make its decisions on this very important topic, not personal opinions.
In addition, while the NCAA’s Office of Inclusion developed the handbook, The Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes in NCAA Championships, a cursory review of this information raised additional questions. Other than the recent change in the allowable total serum testosterone level for the sport in which the student-athlete intends to compete, has the NCAA’s transgender inclusion policy been reviewed/revised since it was created in 2011? Page 10 of the handbook indicates that “Educators in college athletics programs must develop thoughtful and informed practices that provide opportunities for all students, including transgender students, to participate in sports.” We wholeheartedly agree with that statement. The handbook goes on to say, however, that “These practices must be based on sound medical science.” Were the traits that give a student-athlete an advantage in a specific sport taken into consideration, such as the explosive skills required in the sport of swimming? Were the respective National Governing Boards asked to provide data that they may have captured while conducting their own research into the performance gap between male and female athletes in their sport? It is interesting to note that the “A” qualifying standard for Division I males in the 200-yard freestyle, for example, is nearly 12% faster than that of the standard for females. That is a significant difference when considering a sport where winning is determined by hundredths of a second.
In an article shared by the NCAA’s Media Center on October 29, 2020, it was noted that those who attended the NCAA Gender Identity and Student-Athlete Participation Summit remarked about “the glaring lack of research and available data” in this area. Dr. Stephanie Chu, a member of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport remarked, “We need to be sure that the implementation of any policies or rules that may impact access to sport are appropriately evidence based. We need to look at what research there is, and if there isn’t enough, we need to start it. If there is, we need to really take a deep dive into the research.” Was a deep dive taken into the existing research in performance gaps between biological males and females before the NCAA made its most recent decision about acceptable testosterone levels?
Such research does exist, and it supports the position that there are indeed performance gaps between men and women. A very recent longitudinal study found that “the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty and often amounts to 10-50% depending on sport and event. The performance gap is more pronounced in sporting activities relying on muscle mass and explosive strength, particularly in the upper body. Longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5% after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed. Sports organizations should consider this evidence when reassessing current policies regarding participation of transgender women in the female category of sport.” The researchers who conducted these studies have established research expertise in the field and as such, their work, and that of others like them, should be the basis of the NCAA’s decision.
Based on current findings such as these, we implore the NCAA to, as they originally stated they would do, adhere to USA Swimming’s updated transgender inclusion rules.
Otherwise, biological female student-athletes may lose scholarship opportunities, be displaced on trips to competitions, be denied the opportunity to score points for their team and a fair chance to set team, conference, and national records.
We can only imagine that Lia Thomas’ decision to transition in order to align the external appearance of her gender with her internal sense of self must have been very difficult. However, the decision to allow her to compete against biological females at the upcoming 2022 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships based on old data is, in our opinion, extremely unfair, and not in line with the sentiments expressed by Dr. Chu and others such as the NCAA’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brian , about the need to consider relevant research.
We remember the time, so famously chronicled in the documentary The Last Gold featuring our own Jill Sterkel, when East Germany was using performance enhancing drugs to create an unfair advantage for its female swimmers. Although Lia Thomas, per NCAA guidelines, is not taking performance-enhancing drugs, how is her situation any different? How can a testosterone level that is somewhere between four times (4X) and 20 times (20X) the typical threshold of biological females (according to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) not be considered performance-enhancing and an unfair advantage? While we respect Lia Thomas’ right to express her true self, we feel it’s important to recognize the impact that her participation will have on fair competition opportunities for biological females.
Looking at the Lia Thomas situation from a broader perspective, we are gravely concerned for what the NCAA’s stance on the participation of transgender women in collegiate competitions means for women’s athletics in the long-term. The possibility exists that Lia Thomas may surpass times established by some of the NCAA’s most prolific swimmers and some of the world’s most highly accomplished biological females such as Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky, the current NCAA record holders in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, respectively. Records cannot be rolled back. Don’t the legacies of biological females such as Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky deserve to be preserved?
While we need to make sure we do not exclude anyone based on their gender identity, we also need to balance inclusion with fairness. As such, we suggest the following in an effort to preserve opportunities for biological females in the short-term, while also making sure transgender women’s rights to compete are honored:
- Given Lia Thomas has apparently met the testosterone threshold as established by the 12 year old NCAA policy and has qualified to compete, we propose that she swim as an exhibition participant at the upcoming 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. This would afford Lia the opportunity to experience competition at the highest level collegiately as a member of the U Penn women’s team, while also allowing the three women who were displaced by her qualification in three events to compete.
- Should the NCAA feel that is not a viable option, we propose that, similar to the handling of the women’s figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the final standings for the events in which Lia Thomas competes not be made official until such time as the NCAA reviews its’ current transgender policy taking into consideration the most current data on the physiological differences between biological males and females and how those differences impact the performance gap in the sport of swimming, as well as what is necessary for a transgender woman to mitigate her male puberty advantage. Based on that review, the NCAA either confirms or adjusts the top 24 scorers in her events as is necessary (and does so within a reasonable amount of time after the competition in fairness to all).
- In addition, should Lia Thomas swim faster than the current NCAA Championship and/or Meet records at the upcoming NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship meet, we propose that those records not be confirmed until the NCAA reviews its current transgender policy (as suggested above and in a reasonable amount of time) and based on that review, determine whether Lia has fairly established new records.
Finally, we are concerned that the NCAA has mistakenly taken the overall lack of response to its stance on the transgender issue as support from the swimming community. Unfortunately, the lack of response is more a reflection of the various universities’ athletic administrations’, coaches’, student-athletes’, and supporters’ fear of retribution (i.e., being labeled transphobic) as has been the case for the few who have been vocal about the negative impact the decision will have on biological females’ opportunities. Many have been asked to maintain a neutral stance and as a result, biological female student-athletes have no voice nor anyone advocating on their behalf.
It is also disappointing to note that the College Swimming Coaches Association released a statement in favor of the NCAA’s recent decision and did so without reaching out to its membership. How can a membership organization such as the CSCAA unilaterally voice an opinion as if it is representative of its membership without conferring with those it represents? The NCAA seems to have done the same. From what we understand, Directors of Athletics in the various Divisions were not involved in the decision. In addition, the NCAA states on its website that it is committed to giving student-athletes a voice in decision-making processes. Indeed, the timeframe was very short, but did the NCAA speak with a segment of its female student-athletes (specifically swimming in this case) before determining that it would be fair for a transgender woman, who meets the 10 nmols/L testosterone threshold, to compete against biological females?
The NCAA’s foundational values include inclusiveness and fairness. In this particular case, the NCAA has leaned heavily on inclusion at the expense of fairness to the benefit of one person over the approximate 300 biological females who will be competing at the upcoming NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. We are hopeful that the NCAA will re-visit its transgender inclusion policy and adopt USA Swimming’s guidelines.
We know that the University of Texas possesses the influence and resources to take a leadership role in protecting women’s sports. Can you please let us know how you are working to protect women’s sports, what your specific stance is on the Lia Thomas issue and her upcoming competition at NCAAs and how we can assist your efforts?
Hook ‘em,
1990 Women’s National Championship Swimming and Diving Team
Katy Arris-Wilson – UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Julie Cooper Bliemel
Kristi Kiggans Bertelsman
Lydia Morrow Chase
Kelley Davies Currin
Melyssa Strieby Cusack
Andrea Hayes Dickson – Olympian, UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Andrea Fisher
Kelly Jenkins Madden
Dana Dutcher May
Patty Overmeyer
Julie Powell
Kristina Stinson Straface
Dorsey Tierney-Walker – UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Jodi Wilson Kuhn
Leigh Ann Fetter Witt
Cheryl Ridal – coach
Mark Schubert – coach
Jill Sterkel – coach and 4 x Olympian, UT Hall of Honor InducteeSwimming Alums outside of 1990 team – all members of multiple UT National Championship Swimming and Diving teams in 1980s:
Carrie Steinseifer Bates – Olympian
Chris Emerson Baxter
Kara McGrath Chavey – UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Annette Cowley-Nel
Jodi Eyles
Whitney Hedgepeth – 2 x Olympian and UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Wendy Wells Henry
Colleen Griffin Hergott
Debbie Risen Hurwitz – UT Hall of Honor Inductee
Chris Emerson Baxter
Betsy Mitchell – Olympian
Tori Trees Smith – Olympian
Dana Wacker
Tracey McFarland Mirande
Claire Sanders McCall
Terianne McGuirk
Vanessa Richey SaidGolfer
Cindy Figg-Currier – pro golfer and UT Hall of Honor inducte
Woke public schools and universities have been laying this foundation for at least a decade but the letter writers only protested when it impacted their sport. Too late ladies. Get used to trans in the lanes. The whole thing is a first world problem as evidenced by the mayhem happening in Ukraine and our own cities.
There is an element of truth to what you say about what has led to where we are today. Nevertheless, it takes some amount of courage to address this matter in the manner these letter writers did. The University of Texas is without a doubt the most liberal large public university in the state of Texas and the wrath of the powers-that-be will surely be awakened. Granted, the timing could and should have been earlier if they really want to effect change in the 2022 NCAA National Championship meet, but it’s never too late to right a wrong.
My only argument with the letter is that they stepped up to the line and failed to step over it, into total truth telling. Their argument essentially says what everyone knows but is not willing to say. And that is, so-called Lia Thomas, is now, and has been since his conception, a male child eventually named Will Thomas. This young man has been mentally and emotionally damaged, likely by some adverse childhood experience, and rather than being encouraged to seek the kind of psychological treatment that would restore him to good mental health, his delusion is being accommodated, and worse, accepted by the people who ought to know better and who are otherwise responsible for protecting women’s sports. It’s tragic for everyone involved.
And what would restore Lia Thomas’ mental health? What are your suggestions? maybe involuntary commitment to a mental hospital? A combination of drugs and conversion therapy? We aren’t talking about a ten year old here. Since you have never met Lia Thomas you are just spouting nonsense.
A bullet works. Be a man not a coward. How about you deal with life and not be such a bitch and cry and blame the world for YOUR own personal issues. Grow the f* up. Be accountable for yourself and you don’t need drugs. You need to be strong and commit the being a better human being regardless of what other think, say or do. And don’t say it’s not that simple. It is that simple
No they are not. Gender dysphoria is a mental condition. 40% of trans commit suicide AFTER the transition. They are in need of serious therapy , serious.
He should just stop swimming against real females and taking their place on the podium. It is not “our problem” to fix Will’s miss identity.
M v M, F v F, T vT. Period
Ur Silly
How could the NCAA have ever gotten it so wrong.
Ken, this is not new. No one complained when In May 2019, CeCé Telfer became the first publicly out trans woman to win an NCAA track & field title.
Many people complained about CeCe Telfer. And those two boys running (and winning) track events in Connecticut. In fact, there was a lawsuit.
People are only slowly waking up to gender activism, but watching huge men win women’s sporting competitions is helping.
And the reason for the “slow” part is because US media is a mouthpiece for Big Gender and because gender activists have managed to sneakily make any kind of dissent against Genderology a “phobia.”
I stand corrected, Em Em, thank-you for the reminder. And I agree with the reason you stated above. I try to be provocative to get insightful comments like yours out there. And I am not being sarcastic.
You nailed it. The media and the Biden agenda are pushing this gender travesty and sacrificing women to their insane woke cause.
What does Biden have to do with this? You tRUMP cult members if nothing else, consistent. I’m just shocked yiu didn’t blame Obama.
Wrong is wrong, no matter who you vote for.
Democrat liberal here, voted for president Biden and Obama.
I support the rights of transgendered people to go about how they feel comfortable. I have no problem sharing a bathroom.
Biological females have struggled for our rights in almost all areas including sports. Anyone remember the attack on the first woman to attempt to run Boston Marathon?
I am absolutely horrified that sports is first on the list to be taken from us.
Physically we cannot compete with male development.
How anyone does not see this is beyond me
Lol Obama is pushing this crap too! All the left is pushing this crap. Look at Disney for God sakes. I hope they go out of business in florida and are hurt seriously everywhere!
Run by ALL Males
Well said. Thank you for speaking out ladies.
Ditto!
SO good to see our lady Longhorns speak out with so much logic and well supported ideas. Time to put back reality into all this wokeness.
Why do we keep having to listen to a bunch of washed-up has been old timers tell us the way things should be? I get why their generation doesn’t like transwomen, because they weren’t raised to believe that transgender people were more than a punchline. But, their time is done. Let the current athletes fight this one out.
Because the current year have been threatened with being thrown off the team if they speak against what is happening. Read previous articles on this site.
And those responsible should be called to the carpet.
Ummm, no.
Children are being propagandized into gender ideology/Queer Theory in our schools from pre-K on up, but more and more very young women are sensing something is wrong with men demanding women’s rights, women’s spaces and women’s sports.
The negative effects on hundreds of thousands of young women athletes of the NCAA, etc., allowing men into women sports will eventually lead to a backlash that will stop this gender nonsense in its tracks.
Well written, Em Em.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for that. The acceptance of this nonsense is mind blowing. Dude has “JUNK” and STILL allowed to compete against ACTUAL FEMALES
It won’t stop till women refuse to compete with them, let them swim, run, jump, play volleyball all by themselves
A boy goes through puberty and lives as a male until he’s 22. He then decides he’s a woman, starts taking hormones to lower his testosterone, and *BAM* he’s now a “woman.” T-levels are essentially irrelevant in determining athletic ability, because lowering t-levels does absolutely nothing to significantly reduce bone density, fast-twitch muscle fibers, muscle attachment points, tendon strength, or any of the dozens of other factors that make male athletes generally superior to female athletes. If testosterone were the ultimate determining factor, essentially all men would be better athletes than all women. Tom Brady at 45 objectively has lower testosterone levels than every quarterback in this year’s draft, so I guess all of those athletes are better than Brady, eh?
But hey, no one has ever accused you geniuses of being capable of logic, reason, or intelligence.
This comment is so internally confused, it makes the reader question whether it was written simply out of the possible misapplication of misunderstood facts, or just downright base stupidity.
T levels are NOT IRRELEVANT, But this is a MAN. “JUNK” included. Personally I think he will be discard all of this at the end of the day because he wants to keep his JUNK
A gut instinct… that the person creating this agonizing inequality in women sports WILL stop meds to transform after graduation to his original natural state at birth. All eyes will be waiting and I hope and pray his choices haven’t psychologically and emotionally impacted his choices in the future. I hope he is mentally and emotionally strong enough to handle the results of the impact that he will be facing in the future. A Victory isn’t a Victory unless honestly earned.
It appears to be the Y chromosome that determines function. Think of it as a car with a 8 cylinder engine vs a 4 cylinder engine, testosterone is the gas. If I put low octane gas in a V8 it still performs much better than the 4 cylinder engine with high octane gas. Therefore it’s the engine (Y chromosome) not the gas (testosterone) that determines performance.
You are obviously an ageist and lump all people not of your generation as anti-trans. That isn’t even the issue. You need to check your woke principles and stop being a bigot.
Washeduphasbeen. How ironic. Guess we should follow your premise and not listen to you either.
Dang if you don’t belong on a panel of experts
Trans are NOT women, they never were and never will be
These “washed-up has been old timers”???? They are dedicated Longhorns, Champions and funders of a lot of UT sport programs! Are you? They speak truth and love women’s sports. There is a CLEAR unfair advantage to have a guy compete with a woman.
How about a real challenge of all their legitimate points instead of deflective name calling?
Waiting…………
It’s unfortunate the governing body’s of college athletics has gotten this so wrong.
When male athletes compete against female athlete and call this fair I can’t help but feel concern for the true female athlete who are going to miss there opportunity to compete in fair events
HE HIM HIS!
Think they are women, but science says they are not women. What a mess for competitive sports. Why not just have a Trans vs Trans competition? I suspect it’s because there’s not enough Trans swimmers to fill all the lanes in the pool…
The woke culture has gone too far and now the rights of women do not matter? What about the women who trained their entire lives in the female category? All of a sudden they are forced at pinnacle of careers to lose their seed in finals or to compete against the shoulder width, leg size and strength, foot size, neck size etc and back of a male. This is insane and cruel.
I have male and female D1 swimmers in my house. If my male transitioned to a woman he would continue to crush his sister in her top event. Ridiculous! My heart breaks for the sport i love so much and the women who have worked so hard.
Well done Texas Alumni.
Finally a group that has the guts to say allowing a guy to swim against women is unfair. YEAH!!!
This came because of the false feminism movement. Which says woman are the same as men. Which doesn’t consider differences for good cause. They brought this idea slowly before the gender ideology. So that when men changed to women, no arguement comes or shaming the feminist followers or believers. So many woman are bowing to the disordered feminism movement with out checking the bgenda behind it. It lays a fertile ground for ttransgender ideology. So we need to work to illuminate on what is true natural feminism and muscularity. If we say we are equal and sad when men compete on womans teams, we are fighting with our own ideas. Let us clear this first. Let us accept our natural differences and common things. The truth shall set us free.
This is the most a amazing point. Well said. Truth. I love this.
The feminist movement didn’t say that they are the same as men but rather women should be given the same opportunities as men
What on earth are you spewing? Feminism doesn’t say we are exactly the same as men, it demands that we be afforded the same rights! Equal opportunities, equal pay, equal protections
I am against it. I don’t think it’s fair or right. I am a proud lesbian & I am pro strong women & women athletics but somehow I just don’t think it’s a fair competition because Lia Thomas has the athletic body of a male. I’m jus sayin
I would like my voice to be heard too. I think we need to go in reverse and rethink men’s and women’s sports. A lot of issues would be solved if we would just create an “open” category for every sport where anyone, no matter what your background, would be accepted. So instead of a men’s category, an open one would allow women to choose to compete with men, if they so choose. This would enhance the feminine movement even further while also welcoming transgendered men, women, and intersex people. The second category of sport would of course be the female category to include all women who are XX. So women’s sports would change to female’s sports. This solves the need to test for testosterone and would welcome females who have higher than average testosterone like that issue with the Semenya who was indeed a true XX female, unfairly disqualified from Olympic competition. Please, please, please, consider my thoughts, upvote and share with everyone if you agree with me. Thanks!
Semenya is not a woman, Semenya has a Y chromosome; specifically (46 xy). Semenya has no estrogen producing ovaries rather gonadal streak.
I totally agree that women’s sports must be saved – immediately, before more women are harmed!
In the online world we have today, this should be very easy to do for the sport of swimming.
Imagine this scenario:
Suppose that at every college or swim mete, the swimming pool was gigantic and for each specific race, every competitor – all men, all women, all transgenders and non-binaries – all swam physically together at the same time.
Chaos? No. Simply that their scores would be reported in different groupings – one grouping for the women, another for the men, and a third grouping for the transgenders and non-binaries.
In today’s world, let Lia Thomas physically swim in the same pool with the females to achieve social acceptance, but report Lia’s scores separately in a different grouping specifically for transgenders and non-binaries.
I can see this solution working easily where sports outcomes are based on the scores of single individuals in times, distances, heights, etc.
Would take some additional thinking on how to accommodate the solution for other types of sports, such as team sports.
Sports involving horses or vehicles may not need such a solution.
We banned it in florida.
WHY aren’t there WOMEN in Charge of Women Sports ,should NOT be a Male in Charge of ANY Women Sports, Period, thought patterns are different
Welllll feminism said that women can do everything just as good as a man ?♂️ soo I don’t get their complaints ?
Factor the Women’s D1A qualifying time (XX) and divide it by the Men’s D1A qualifying time for a particular event – make that the handicap for XY swimmers in an XX event. ex. [275/251 = 1.095] or in the case of the 2022 Women’s 500 yd Free, the XX swimmers get a 25 second headstart.
Unfortunately, you are missing the point. A transgender will never be a “woman”. Stop calling her one or “she”. Transgenders should compete against transgenders, end of story.
You silly all women by declaring a trans a woman. Women have ovaries, men do not.