President Joe Biden has often appeared confused lately. So it’s no surprise that his massive rewrite, Title IX, finally released this month after repeated delays, reveals that he has no idea why the law exists. Maybe.
Title IX is the Educational Civil Rights Act, passed by Congress in 1972, which requires schools receiving federal funds to prohibit discrimination in programs and activities “on the basis of sex.” This is a simple step that will be a breakthrough for women and access to school sport.
No more.
Since 2022, the Biden administration’s Department of Education has responded to a record 240,000 public comments and worked to finalize new rules that undermine the entire purpose of the law.
I spoke with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last week. He spent years under the Trump administration working to make Title IX fair for all students and ensure schools protect students’ constitutional rights.
To say the least, Ms. DeVos is not satisfied that Mr. Biden has erased all the positive changes she and her team have made, and claims that she has introduced troubling new changes.
Betsy DeVos spoke about the reasons for her resignation.President Trump’s actions on January 6 were a ‘red line’ that would lead to his resignation.
Title IX would cause ‘actual harm’ to women.
DeVos and others are concerned about Biden’s decision to redefine “sex” to include gender identity, something Congress has not done.
The changes will allow transgender students to choose which bathrooms and locker rooms they want to use and which sports teams they want to play on. This raises both privacy and fairness concerns for female athletes, the young women the law was originally intended to support.
“Title IX as we know it was passed over 50 years ago and its sole purpose was to give women equal opportunities, and eventually opportunities centered around sports,” DeVos said. told me. “And Biden’s latest rewrite will turn the tables and position laws that actually harm women by expanding the definition of biological sex to include gender identity. ”
The Biden administration avoided another, more controversial provision that would have prohibited schools from banning transgender athletes, but DeVos believes the language in the final rule will force the same outcome. .
Biden’s administration comes at a troubling time as professional and college organizations tighten rules regarding transgender participation in women’s sports. Earlier this year, a group of female athletes also sued the NCAA under Title IX for forcing them to compete against transgender swimmer Leah Thomas.
Athletes sue NCAA:These women claim that transgender rules discriminate against them. So they’re suing the NCAA.
Additionally, a Gallup poll last year found that nearly 70% of Americans do not support transgender athletes playing on teams that match their current gender identity.
So Biden’s Title IX rewrite seems out of step with what most of the country wants.
Campus courts are stripped of due process.
The new rules would also remove due process from campus sexual assault investigations, returning the policy to onerous Obama-era guidance.
Coach says:The Oberlin coach stood up for women in sports. She was subsequently publicly humiliated by the university.
It is ironic that Biden would want to use civil rights law to deny students (usually men) accused of sexual misconduct the right to a fair hearing. Accusations of wrongdoing should not be the same as guilt.
DeVos said the new policy would force universities back into “campus kangaroo courts.” The courts failed to provide impartial justice and led to dozens of lawsuits, most of which the school lost on due process grounds.
“This was a core part of the rule we proposed during the Obama administration to truly right all the wrongs that the Dear Colleague caused,” DeVos said.
“And the idea is that we go back to what’s called a single-investigator model, where one individual, usually someone who has very left-leaning policies of their own, initiates the investigation and does the investigative work. “We decide the outcome, no one else is involved,” she said, adding, “It’s totally unfair and unjust. And it’s ultimately intolerable and unbearable.” Probably not.”
Medical review raises concerns such as:Cass Review raises red flags over gender-affirming care for transgender children
For those who are skeptical of DeVos’ view, consider that the ACLU (along with other groups) has similar concerns.
The ACLU notes that some of these changes include that universities are no longer required to “provide opportunities for live hearing and cross-examination where significant sanctions, such as suspension or expulsion, may be applied.” Said to be against the side.
Legal rights groups are similarly concerned that schools could once again use a single-investigator model in which “one person investigates complaints and makes decisions about the outcome.”
“There’s going to be a lot of backlash.”
These aspects of the new rules are bad enough. There’s much more to the 1,500+ page book.
For example, the changes expand the definition of “harassment” and could subject students to disciplinary action if they use the wrong pronouns of another student. Speech protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may also be affected.
And a new set of rules will help schools keep parents in the dark about what their children (even young children) are choosing to do at school related to their gender identity. It is written in That’s a huge blow to parental rights.
These final regulations will go into effect in August, but many organizations plan to challenge them in court. And DeVos hopes Congress can step in and reverse the changes through the Congressional Review Act.
But most of all, the former education secretary wonders why Biden overturned Title IX in the first place.
“The question is why did anyone feel the need to change what the previous administration had done with this rule?” DeVos said. “It was working well.”
He said Biden was “pandering to the far left wing” of the Democratic Party.
“And I think once that really sinks in with the American public, there’s going to be a huge backlash,” DeVos said.
Let’s hope so.
Ingrid Jack is a columnist for USA TODAY. Contact us at ijacques@usatoday.com or X (formerly Twitter: @).Ingrid Jacks.
