By Giovanna Cima, Program Intern
On June 23rd, the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education released proposed changes to Title IX regulations. These changes were the Biden administration’s response to the previous administration’s harmful adjustments to Title IX that, among other things, restricted the types of complaints that schools were required to investigate. Harassment was also defined as having to be “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.” This definition was extremely strict (Bedera, 2020). This resulted in many complaints immediately not even being considered, making it difficult for survivors to be heard. To address this issue, the new proposed regulations expand the definition to “sufficiently severe or pervasive,” widening the definition to include more complaints.
These proposed changes also ensure more inclusive protection for any student that experiences any kind of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and violence. They reduce barriers for students reporting sexual discrimination, change the process for responding to these reports, add specific protection for LGBTQIA+ students and pregnant students, and end the requirement for live hearings (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).
From July 12th to September 12th, 2022, the proposed changes were open for public comment. The U.S. Department of Education received well over 200,000 comments in the 60-day comment period (Inside Higher Ed, 2022). These comments came from a wide range of advocacy organizations as well as individual people. Many applauded the changes and even urged The Department of Education to go further with their protections (Inside Higher Ed, 2022).
MCASA submitted comments highlighting some strengths and areas for improvement for the proposed changes. We applauded the expansion of supportive measures for survivors, the removal of a live hearing requirement, and the clarification and expansion of the prohibition on retaliation, among other things. A few of our concerns include the fact that elementary and secondary school students are still not granted the same rights and protections as college age students; schools should not be forced to tell parties that they have a presumption in favor of the respondent, they should instead tell them they are neutral fact finders; and the changes should include the right to appeal a determination of not responsible.
The Department of Justice will take time to review the comments, possibly make edits to the original proposed changes, and then open a second comment period before finalizing the changes. They have not released a definite timeline as to when the amendments will be finalized, however it will likely be no sooner than the 2023- 2024 academic year.
References
Bedera, Nicole. “Trump's New Rule Governing College Sex Assault Is Nearly Impossible for Survivors to Use. That's the Point.” Time, Time, 14 May 2020. Retrieved from: https://time.com/5836774/trump-new-title-ix-rules/
Fact Sheet: U.S. Department of Education’s 2022 Proposed Amendments to its Title IX Regulations. U.S. Department of Education. N.d. Retrieved from: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9nprm-factsheet.pdf
“The U.S. Department of Education Releases Proposed Changes to Title IX Regulations, Invites Public Comment.” U.S. Department of Education, 23 June 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-proposed-changes-title-ix-regulations-invites-public-comment
“Thousands Weigh in on New Title IX Rules.” Inside Higher Ed. 14 September 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/09/14/thousands-weigh-new-title-ix-rules
