After it missed an October deadline for disseminating two anticipated Title IX regulations that are expected to significantly impact school policies, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is being urged by Democrat lawmakers to finalize and release those highly-anticipated regulations. According to a Nov. 30 letter to Education Secretary Cardona and signed by 66 members of congress, the delay preserves Trump-era policies “that weakened protections for sexual assault and harassment survivors and sowed confusion about the extent of students’ protections against sex discrimination.”
Whereby one of the rules would direct how federally-funded schools must investigate and resolve sexual assault complaints and include LGTBQ+ students in sex discrimination protections, while the other would prevent blanket bans on transgender students participating in athletics aligned with their gender identity, it is felt that the continued delay leaves sexual assault survivors, transgender students, and other historically marginalized groups without adequate civil rights protections.
The USDE has not disclosed when it will issue the final regulations.
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