By Raychael Moseley/Managing Editor

One of the many executive orders signed by President Donald Trump during the early days of his second term will remove all funding from institutions that allow biological males to compete in women’s sports.

In the order, President Trump emphasized that he wanted to protect the rights of women in sports.

“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” he said. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

At MVC students had mixed opinions about the order, with sophomore Chloe Woods expressing her support.

“I  think that they should have a place where they can compete in sports, but putting them in women’s sports is not the way to do it,” Woods said. “Because it’s unfair to all  the female athletes that have trained their whole life to compete in a sport, and then they are biologically overpowered and it’s completely out of their control.”

SGA President Kloee Mills also supports the executive order.

“It is very important. I have been following this for a while… it is something I strongly believe in,” Mills said. “There are varying opinions but the best example I can give is the Leah Thomas vs. Riley Gains race. Thomas was ranked 500 something in the men’s division, then when racing against girls was ranked fifth. It is disrespectful to women to have to compete against biological males at any point in their life. There is a reason  there have been two different divisions since the beginning of sports.” 

For sophomore Kaya McCory, the matter is a bit more complicated.

“I think there are bigger things everyone should be focusing on,” she said. “I also think that keeping transgender athletes out of their sports could have huge mental health impacts.”

MVC President Joe Parisi said Trump’s executive order will have little impact at Missouri Valley College, however, as the NAIA took action on the matter last year.

“The NAIA has different legislation on that,” he said. “They voted against transgender athletes competing in various sports at the NAIA convention last spring.”

As a result of that vote, a rule prohibiting trans athletes from competing in women’s sports has been in place since spring of 2024.

“There was a lot of conversation on the topic,” Parisi said of the NAIA rule change. “It was a unanimous decision across the board. A  lot of the schools that people think about are NCAA schools which it does affect. But for us, it won’t affect us at all.”

To read more about the executive order click here.