The Trump administration rescinded the 2024 Title IX rules prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools and returned to the less protective regulations implemented during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Title IX makes it illegal for schools that receive federal funding, including financial aid for students, to discriminate based on sex. The Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX rules expanded protections against gender discrimination and sexual harassment, but those policies have been reversed.
A drastic change to Title IX is how it addresses discrimination based on gender identity. The previous Title IX rules included gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination in its definition of conduct considered sex-based discrimination. Title IX now only recognizes a binary male-female definition.
Another major change to Title IX policy is that schools don’t need to address sexual harassment unless it is “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive.” Under the previous rules, unwelcome conduct that was either “severe or pervasive” was sufficient to require schools to act.
A single offensive or intimidating sexual remark, however outrageous or extreme, is no longer conduct that requires action under Title IX. Such conduct only needs to be addressed if it is extensively repeated and a reasonable person would consider it offensive from the perspective of the recipient of the remark.
Additionally, under the current Title IX rules, sexual harassment must “effectively deny” someone equal access to a school program or activity. Schools no longer must address conduct that “denies or limits” equal opportunity.
Under the new Title IX rules, schools are no longer required to allow students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and dress according to their gender identity. Now, schools get to decide whether to use those policies.
If students want to hold schools accountable for failing to address discrimination, how they report violations of Title IX has also changed.
Under the previous rules, students could report sexual harassment to any employee and that person had to report it to the appropriate school official. Now, only employees with the authority to resolve incidents of sexual harassment must report discrimination to the Title IX coordinator.
The new Title IX rules establish the minimum requirements all schools must follow. Schools can choose to have more protective policies.
Chatham University is in the process of updating its own Title IX policy in response to the rule changes, according to an email sent to the Chatham community from the university president’s office after the time of publication.
The university’s Title IX policy, who to contact and how to report sex-based discrimination can be found under Chatham’s non-discrimination policy.
