Recently, the Education Department issued new guidance requiring educational institutions to revert to policies instituted during President Donald Trump’s administration concerning sexual misconduct. This directive mandates the implementation of live hearings and heightened protections for students facing accusations. The memo stresses that Title IX, which was enacted in 1972 to prohibit sex-based discrimination, will now be enforced under the regulations established by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which outline procedures for investigating complaints and resolving conflicts between student testimonies.
In light of a federal court’s ruling in Kentucky that invalidated the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations, many colleges have already initiated the shift back to the DeVos guidelines. The recent court verdict effectively reinstates the Trump-era rules after deeming the Biden administration’s approach as an overreach. A spokesperson from the Education Department criticized the Biden regulations as a significant affront to women and girls.
The intent behind the Trump administration’s policies, as articulated by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor, is to ensure equal opportunities for all, particularly emphasizing the rights of women and girls to access safe and segregated facilities and programs within educational environments.
The Biden administration had sought to reform Title IX to enhance protections for LGBTQ+ students and broaden the definition of sexual harassment, a stark contrast to the narrower criteria put forth by DeVos. However, a ruling by U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves in January overturned these new regulations, asserting that they represented an overstep by the President and infringed upon constitutional free speech rights by mandating that schools recognize students’ chosen pronouns. The judge maintained that Title IX did not extend beyond its original 1972 framework set by Congress.
Prior to the court’s decision, Biden’s regulations had already faced challenges in several states, leading to a temporary halt in enforcement. Despite Title IX’s original text comprising only 37 words, extensive rules have been developed over the years to clarify its applications. DeVos’ policies included 500 pages of detailed instructions regarding how educational institutions should manage complaints and ensure compliance with federal mandates.
The Trump administration’s aggressive approach to Title IX enforcement was epitomized by a recent investigation launched against Denver schools, which converted a girls’ restroom into an all-gender facility while maintaining a boys’ restroom as exclusive. The new guidance also stipulated that investigations initiated under the Biden regulations must transition immediately to align with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX guidelines.
Although DeVos’ rules were praised by some advocates for preventing premature disciplinary actions against students accused of misconduct, they faced opposition from victims’ rights organizations, which argued that they could undermine reports of assaults and exacerbate trauma for survivors. One of the most contentious elements of the DeVos guidelines was the mandatory live hearings where accused individuals could cross-examine their accusers through an advisor, a requirement that had been dropped in the Biden administration’s revisions—although some courts had previously asserted a right to cross-examination for the accused.
Overall, the 2020 regulations not only tightened the definition of sexual harassment but also limited the circumstances under which schools were liable for incidents, placing a heavier burden on the institutions by requiring them to act with “deliberate indifference” before they could be held accountable.
In a further development of the Trump administration’s education policies, Linda McMahon, a close ally of Trump and co-founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), has been nominated as the new education secretary, although her confirmation hearing has yet to be arranged.
