On April 19, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights declared new Title IX regulations to replace the version ratified in 2020. These new revisions to Title IX, presented by the Biden administration, were put into effect on Aug. 1, 2014.
The 2024 version includes additional protections against sex-based harassment and violence that add to the original 1972 Public Law 92-318 prohibition of sex-based discrimination. This addition adds another layer of protection against discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex stereotypes. There is also an added clarification that protects pregnant people from discrimination.
The U.S Department of Education claimed the new mandates would require schools “to take prompt and effective action to end any sex discrimination in their education programs or activities, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effects” and to protect “against retaliation for students, employees, and others who exercise their Title IX rights.”
Twenty-six states have pushed to block Biden’s 2024 Title IX update. Every state with a Republican attorney general, barring New Hampshire, has blocked the decision. In the 24 states that have not blocked the new regulations, numerous educational establishments have been prevented from updating their Title IX policy due to a court ruling in Kansas. The Federal District Judge of Kansas, John Broomes, enacted a ruling that has caused schools with students or parents who are members of Female Athletes United, Moms for Liberty or Young America’s Foundation to not be able to update their Title IX policy.
The three groups, also the plaintiffs, are against the ruling due to the allowance of transgender students to enter bathrooms of sex that they were not assigned at birth. They assert that the new Title IX regulations defy the First Amendment. They claim that by preventing school staff members from vocalizing their views on gender identity and having them use students’ preferred pronouns, their constitutional right is breached.
Due to a plaintiff group having a member that belongs to Drexel University, the ruling has been blocked from being implemented in the Philadelphia institution. There is a pending appeal as of now to challenge the Kansas injunction, but until any other decision is made, the 2020 version of the Title IX policy will remain in effect at the university.
In an email sent on Wednesday, July 31 by the Drexel Office for Institutional Equity and Inclusive Culture, it was reassured that the current Sexual Harassment and Misconduct and Discrimination, Harassment and Bias policies already protect sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression at Drexel. Regardless, the 2024 Title IX will be implemented if the injunction is removed.