Title IX

学校和大学是极其重要的or shaping students' learning and giving them opportunities. However, education hasn't always been available equally to all people. In the 20th century, women faced major hurdles to their success in academics, especially around gender discrimination, sexual assault and harassment, and athletics. Title IX, passed in 1972, was designed to provide more rights and protections to women. Over time, the federal government's interpretation of Title IX has expanded to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Title IX Definition

Title IX is an important provision in US law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. It was passed as an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965.

The full text of Title IX reads like this:

The Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education is responsible for enforcing the law and its subsequent regulations.

Title IX Education

Title IX was born out of the Civil Rights and feminism movements in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, color, and national origin. A similar provision was passed to prohibit discrimination in the education system on the basis of race, but gender discrimination was not included.

Education Amendments of 1972

Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana had been working on issues relating to gender discrimination for several years. The Higher Education Act of 1965 was up for reauthorization, so he decided to introduce the language as an amendment to the Higher Education Act. The amendment was passed with the Education Amendments and signed into law in 1972.

Title IX Regulations

在接下来的几年里,Department of Education (DoE) (then called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare) was charged with creating regulations around Title IX.

In 1975, DoE published its regulations, which expanded significantly on the Title IX statute into areas likeequalityin sports and how schools should handle sexual assault.

Alexander v. Yale, 1980

第九条保护了第一个测试the 1980 case of Alexander v. Yale. The case involved five female students at Yale who alleged various instances of sexual assault and intimidation from male Yale faculty. They demanded that Yale implement a process where students could file grievances with the school. For the first time, they argued that the sex discrimination prohibition in Title IX includes sexual harassment and assault, since both interfere with students' education and opportunities.

While the court agreed with their legal argument, they said that the allegations were no longer relevant because they had already graduated and because Yale had already moved to implement a grievance process.

Grove City College v. Bell, 1984

Grove City College, a small religiously affiliated private school in Western Pennsylvania, refused to comply with the DoE's requirement that schools submit a letter certifying that they will comply with Title IX. They argued that since they didn't receive any direct federal funding, they weren't legally required to comply with Title IX. However, the Department argued that some of their students received federal grants to attend, so they still had to comply.

TheSupreme Courtsided with both. They agreed that the college was receiving federal funds through the grant. However, since the rest of the school didn't receive federal funding, Title IX compliance was limited only to the program receiving federal funds.

Civil Rights Restoration Act

The court's decision in Grove City College v. Bell was extremely important, especially for the groups who had fought againstequalityin athletics requirements.

However, Congress quickly drafted new legislation called the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which specified that institutions receiving any type of federal funding (including in indirect formats like the grant program in Grove City College v. Bell) had to comply with Title IX. President Ronald Reagan moved to veto the legislation, saying it expanded the federal government's power over private organizations like churches and synagogues and put religious liberty at risk.

Congress overrode the veto and the Civil Rights Restoration Act became law in 1988.

Title IX Sexual Harassment

Today, the DoE Title IX regulations include a strong focus on the school's role in preventing and addressing discrimination, sexual harassment, and assault. Under this rule, schools are required to take an active role in meditating and remedying instances of sexual harassment and assault on campus.

Title IX regulations define sexual harassment and assault as sex discrimination, including domestic violence and stalking. According to Title IX, schools must provide assistance and support to anyone who files a Title IX complaint. Retaliation or intimidation against anyone who files a complaint is illegal.

Title IX Complaint

Students who feel their Title IX rights have been violated can file an official Title IX complaint. By law, universities have to provide a process for handling Title IX complaints and inform students about that process, including appointing a Title IX coordinator.It also prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy and abortion.

In addition, schools must provide students who file a complaint under Title IX with the right to:

• an advocate, written notice of allegations, and to examine/challenge evidence;
• a live hearing;
• an impartial finding based on evidence;
• equal opportunity to appeal the finding to both parties.

Title IX Sports

Before Title IX, athletic opportunities for girls and women were severely limited. Many people felt that investing in women's sports would take away opportunities for male students and didn't think that women's sports were as rigorous or significant. Some schools relied on sports events for revenue and pushed to exempt them from the rule.

Figure 1: Women's sports weren't take as seriously as men's sports for most of the 20th century. This advertisement from 1906 said that golf and lawn tennis were the best sports for women's figures. Source: Myer Solis-Cohen, Wikimedia Commons

After a few years, the Department published final guidance in 1979 to establish the three-prong test, which said that schools must ensure equal treatment in:

• participation
• benefits and treatment
• financial assistance

Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994

Many schools didn't comply with the sports equity provisions in Title IX, leading to several lawsuits. Congress passed the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994 to require universities to provide annual reports disclosing information about their athletics programs and compliance with the three-prong test.

Over the next two decades, several lawsuits were filed arguing against the validity of Title IX. However, most were dismissed and the rules remained in effect.

Figure 2: Expanding women's opportunities in sports has helped the US Olympics team win events like the 2000 women's 400 meter relay race. Source: TSGT Rick Sforza, U.S. Air Force, Wikimedia Commons

Title IX Discrimination

Another major issue that falls under Title IX is discrimination around LGBTQ issues.

Obama-Era Guidance

In 2010, guidance came out under President Barack Obama that extended Title IX protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. The guidance noted that gay and transgender students experience higher levels of bullying, which impacts their right to an equal education, and noted that:

The DoE went further in 2016 by issuing guidance that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathrooms and locker rooms and join sports teams in line with their gender identity.

Trump-Era Guidance

These two updates were ground-breaking in that it was the first time the federal government specifically awarded protections to LGBTQ students. However, it stirred up significant controversy, especially from groups who said that homosexuality was against their religious beliefs.

In 2017, under the Trump administration, new guidance came out from the Department of Education that rescinded Obama's guidance as well as some protections for sexual assault survivors. In 2020, the Department noted that the rights of cisgender, biological women were violated by transgender women by allowing transgender women to participate in women's sports and use women's bathrooms.

Figure 3: A woman protesting the Department of Education's reversal of Title IX transgender protections. Source: Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.0

Biden-Era Guidance

That guidance was again reversed when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. The DoE issued more guidance that it would enforce Title IX's protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2022, the DoE began the process to include LGBTQ protections in regulation, rather than relying on departmental guidance.

Exemptions

Title IX regulations also include a provision for institutions to apply for an exemption. This means that the school does not have to comply with Title IX because it might violate their religious beliefs. Many religious schools have obtained exemptions from Title IX, particularly because of their beliefs around pregnancy, abortion, and LGTBQ issues. This issue continues to be hotly debated as LGBTQ activists file lawsuits to remove religious exemption laws for universities that receive federal funding.