By Suzanne Bowdey

It’s safe to say Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and NCAA President Charlie Baker won’t be exchanging Christmas cards any time soon. Baker, the infamous collegiate sports boss who’s allowed female athletes to be tormented by biological men for his entire tenure, flew to D.C. for what he thought would be a congressional hearing about sports betting. Instead, it turned into an explosive takedown of the NCAA’s wildly unpopular trans policy.

From the opening gavel, there was no love lost for Baker, who’s presided over one of the most contentious chapters in college sports history. After almost two years on the job, the former governor of Massachusetts has become public enemy number one when it comes to protecting women’s privacy, safety, and opportunity. And despite a stinging rebuke of these policies in the November elections, Baker seemed shockingly indifferent to the plight that’s motivated an entire nation. 

Resting his head on his elbow in a pose that screamed boredom, Baker perfunctorily answered Republicans’ questions about the policy that’s spawned a nationwide movement. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy ® kicked off the fireworks when he asked, “A biological male is always going to have a physical and physiological advantage competing in the collegiate sport against a biological female, isn’t that true?” Baker replied, “… It’s certainly debatable.” “You think it’s debatable?” the Louisiana leader asked incredulously. “I think it’s debatable,” the NCAA head repeated. Is that really your testimony, Kennedy pressed? “You don’t think that a biological male has an advantage every time competing against a biological female? Is that your testimony?”

Baker considered this, conceding, “No, I think the way you defined it, yes, I would agree with you.” In that case, Kennedy wanted to know, “Why does the NCAA, why do you — your job is to promote fairness in collegiate sports —… support allowing transgender women who are biological males to compete against non-transgender biological females?”

BAKER: Over the course of the past two years, five federal court cases involving this question… have all sided with participating as the standard. This is very—

KENNEDY: So you’re saying you don’t have a choice?

BAKER: I’m saying that under the current dynamic, there is not clarity [on] this issue legally.

KENNEDY: … The purpose of the NCAA is to promote fair competition, and if you agree with me that in every single instance, a biological male is going to have an unfair advantage over a biological female, then why don’t you just say, ‘Look, in America, you can be whomever you want to be, but in terms of fair competition in the collegiate sport [world], transgender women who are biological males are not going to be allowed to compete against non-transgender women who are biological[ly] female?’ Boom. Done. Why don’t you take that position, Charlie?‘

BAKER: Because federal courts have already taken the position that they do have the right to compete five times in the past year and a half.

KENNEDY: You can disagree and be sued. Why don’t you demonstrate some leadership?

BAKER: I would love to work with you folks on creating clarity.

KENNEDY: Look, I’m sure the NCAA is a good organization. I just can’t figure out what you folks are good for. I know you take in bucket loads of money, and you share some of it. You make that money off the backs of these kids. Your predecessor, who was a good man, took home $2.8 million a year in salary. I’m not going to ask you what you make, but I bet you didn’t take a pay cut. … We’ve got problems in collegiate sports. … You are allowing biological males to compete against biological females, and you folks at the NCAA don’t do anything except sit there, watch, and cash your checks and suck on your teeth. … Why don’t you take a position on transgender biological males competing against females? You just told me it wasn’t fair.

BAKER: … Because we’re a national governing body and we follow federal law.

KENNEDY: That’s what you’re there for. Why don’t you stand up and say in front of God and country, 'Federal law is wrong, and the NCAA believes in fair competition’? … Why don’t you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?

Mercifully for Baker, Kennedy’s time was up. But the grilling was far from over. Hawley, who chastized Baker last year for his non-committal responses, took the chance to turn up the heat even higher. Taking particular exception with Baker’s suggestion that federal law demanded such a policy, the former Missouri attorney general ripped the claim apart. “There’s no federal law that requires it. The relevant federal law is Title IX, is it not?” Hawley pressed. Baker blamed it on the “guidance on this issue,” hinting at Joe Biden’s radical expansion of the policy to prioritize trans-identifying students over girls.

Baker tried to insist that federal judges are compelling the NCAA to trample women’s rights — to which Hawley fired back angrily, “Let’s just dispense with that canard. No federal court has ordered the NCAA to include biological men in women’s sports. There’s not a single case that has ordered the NCAA to do so.” The NCAA chief shrugged, saying, “That’s pretty much what they decided in the end.” Hawley stopped him. “No, don’t say pretty much. This is — we’re talking about the law here. … [And] it’s not true that the NCAA has been ordered by any court. … Your rules have not been tried in federal court, and your rules explicitly permit biological males in women’s sports. And I am asking you, why is that fair to the women? All of these women on these teams had to forfeit games and therefore a chance to compete in the championship because of your rules. And I want to know why is that protective of women? That’s my question.”

Looking increasingly standoffish, Baker repeated the line about the courts forcing his hand. “I’m not asking about the courts,” the senator insisted. “I know what the courts have done. Not one of them has ordered the federal law. This is your policy, which you will not defend because, frankly, it’s indefensible. Why are you, Mr. Baker? Why are you allowing biological men to play in women’s sports?” Baker said he believed it was “consistent with federal policy.”

“So we’re right back to your compelling,” Hawley shook his head. “Your testimony is you believe you’re compelled to do it by federal law. You would change it otherwise.” “We believe our policy,” Baker replied. “ … [C]larity on this issue at the federal level would be very helpful.”

“Oh, that is such a cop out,” Hawley fumed. “In other words, somebody else, please do it for us. Keep sending us the money. We’ll go to court and argue that Title IX doesn’t even apply. We do. … You honestly think you shouldn’t be subject to Title IX? … Absolutely amazing.”

Turning to the girls’ privacy, which has been violated countless times without warning, as several women have testified, Hawley asked why the NCAA allows “biological men into women’s locker rooms without the women’s consent, without the women’s foreknowledge. Why do you do that?”

BAKER: That’s not what our guidelines say.

HAWLEY: They do say that. I’ve got them right here. Your guidelines say that “transgender student-athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity.” And here they are right here.

BAKER: And then everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so.

HAWLEY: Okay. So the burden is on the women. So if the women then want to move to a different facility, in other words, if they want to abandon their own locker room, you’re saying that they should have to do that. So in other words, it’s their problem.

BAKER: No, we put a significant amount of emphasis on what the locals’ plans are. And we make sure that everybody—

HAWLEY: What does that mean? The “locals’ plans”?

BAKER: … We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments, they need to create accommodations for the people who are playing.

HAWLEY: You know, so it’s the feds on the one hand. It’s the locals on the other hand. The only person who doesn’t seem to bear any responsibility in this is you and the NCAA, who are the governing body! And your testimony here today is you’re not even subject to Title IX. Mr. Baker, I can’t tell you how disappointed this makes me. But not just disappointed, frankly, infuriated for the student-athletes who are suffering because of your policies. And you won’t even defend them. You won’t even take responsibility. It’s outrageous. It’s totally outrageous.“

The entire spectacle was made more astounding by Baker’s body language, which seemed oddly dispassionate under the circumstances. For long stretches, his head sat on his hand like he’d been transported to his least favorite classroom, not being called to testify under oath before the most powerful legislative body in America. In the end, it only fueled the longtime belief that he cares nothing about the women under his charge — or the suffering, losses, vulnerability, and injuries they’ve been forced to endure because of these woke NCAA guidelines. 

None of this was lost on expert Doreen Denny, Concerned Women for America’s senior advisor. "NCAA President Charlie Baker’s dodge and weave at the Senate Judiciary hearing is a repeat of the cavalier and callous attitude he routinely demonstrates toward female athletes. It’s shocking how Baker denies responsibility under Title IX and downplays a blatant disregard for women-only sports and spaces,” she told The Washington Stand.

“Two years ago, Charlie Baker had a chance to right the ship when he took the helm of the NCAA in the wake of the Lia Thomas debacle that denied female athletes their rights to fair competition and private locker rooms.” Instead, Denny pointed out, “Baker doubled-down as a creature of the DEI craze and defended the NCAA’s destructive policy promoting trans-identifying males in women’s sports.”

“While other sports organizations like the NAIA, LPGA, and USGA have acted to correct the fool’s errand of prioritizing the feelings of trans-identifying males over the rights of female athletes, Baker pathetically blame-shifts and stonewalls. Baker has proven his incompetence as a leader in college sports by denying responsibility to uphold Title IX and protect female athletes,” she argued.

“If Baker isn’t fit to lead, he needs to go. College women athletes deserve better.”

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.