The establishment of Title IX in 1972 revolutionized women’s sports and implemented groundbreaking anti-harassment policies that advanced equal access to educational opportunities for women and men. Under the Trump administration’s 2020 rule, these protections and due process protections for those accused of harrassment that had been shredded by the Obama administration—were restored and strengthened. The Biden administration wants to rescind this Trump-era rule and implement radical reforms to Title IX, which would undermine the law, threaten due process on college campuses, and upend decades of progress for women in education.
In Case You Missed It: More than two dozen stakeholders sent a letter to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to raise the alarm about the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX, which could destroy half a century of progress for women.
Re: U.S. Department of Education’s Pending Title IX Rulemaking
Trump’s 2020 Rule Improved Title IX
“To date, neither the White House nor ED has pointed to any plausible reason why it might be necessary to amend the 2020 Rule. There has been no indication that this framework, in its brief existence, has proven unworkable… Discarding this framework will produce a whiplash effect for educational institutions that have only recently adjusted their procedures to implement the 2020 Rule and contribute to massive uncertainty among students, faculty members, and others regarding their rights in the Title IX grievance process. Hastily dispatching this carefully balanced process will only serve to devalue the core American principles of due process of law, freedom of speech and religion, academic freedom, and equal treatment on the basis of sex that lie at the heart of the 2020 Rule.”
…
Safeguarding Due Process of Law and Free Speech
“In sum, the 2020 Rule requires a fair process, equality in treatment, and impartial decision-making for parties to Title IX procedures. We strongly urge the Department to retain these common-sense protections.”
…
“In addition to bolstering due process protections for parties in Title IX proceedings, the 2020 Rule constructs strong guardrails to prevent the abuse of the Title IX process to chill protected speech and constrain academic freedom… We call on the Department to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of speech and academic freedom by retaining this narrowly and carefully drawn definition of expression that may result in sanctions against individuals.”
…
Don’t Target Religious Organizations
“We further urge the Department not to modify or abrogate the regulation concerning the exemption from Title IX for institutions controlled by a religious organization… We are concerned that the administration’s ultimate aim is to place additional, needless, and undue regulatory burdens on faith-based institutions that wish to claim such an exemption.”
…
The Biden Administration is Erasing Women and thus Women’s Sports
“Finally, we are alarmed by the administration’s extremist position that ED should extend Title IX, by regulatory fiat, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and that simply acknowledging a student’s sex, and providing certain services and activities separately but comparably to each sex, could constitute unlawful discrimination. Such a view completely ignores the language and structure of Title IX. Indeed, the very text of Title IX demonstrates an understanding that 'sex' is male or female—binary and biological.
“Adding gender identity as a nondiscrimination category under Title IX is particularly disturbing to those of us who have cheered the great progress that has occurred in women’s sports since the passage of Title IX nearly fifty years ago. Such a move would unquestionably damage athletic opportunities for women in schools, colleges, and universities and wreak havoc on Title IX’s requirement to establish and maintain a level playing field for women in athletics.”
…
For a list of signatories and the full text of the letter, please click here.
Original source can be found here.
