Senate Bill 1293

Statement from APSCUF's statewide legislative committee:

On behalf of the nearly 5,000 faculty members and coaches the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) represents at Pennsylvania's state-owned universities, we OPPOSE Senate Bill 1293. Senate Bill 1293 is a solution in search of a problem. We invite the legislature to rethink these efforts and instead meet with our student-athletes and our coaches to learn about our current system and what policies are already in place.

We would like to call attention to actions that have occurred legislation was introduced in February 2025:

• The NCAA has updated its transgender participation policy following President Trump's executive order. This change occurred on February 6, 2025, and can be found HERE.
• The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), of which our State System universities are a part, then updated their policy to mirror the NCAA's. This change occurred on February 7, 2025, and can be found HERE.

We feel these decisions are best made by the local and national governing authorities of our athletic teams and not by legislative action. The NCAA and PSAC conferences are tasked with oversight and policies and deal with these issues on a day-to-day basis.

We owe it to the thousands of State System athletes and their coaches to support ALL student-athletes. These students do amazing things both in the classroom and in their respective sports. Whether it is on an athletic team, on a club team, or participating in intramural sports, our students deserve a place to participate. We feel this continued interest in women's sports is the perfect opportunity to truly support our athletes by increasing state funding to lower tuition, investing in women's sports and facilities, and implementing scholarships to allow these athletes to focus on school and sport and not have to work multiple jobs to afford higher education.

We hope to see you in the near future in the stands cheering on our student-athletes and finding new ways and policies to support them.