82 Leading Professors, Attorneys, and Others Call on Dept. of Education to Suspend Plan to Issue New Title IX Regulation

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Rebecca Stewart: 513-479-3335

82 Leading Professors, Attorneys, and Others Call on Dept. of Education to Suspend Plan to Issue New Title IX Regulation

WASHINGTON / May 2, 2022 – Today, 82 leading professors, attorneys, and others are issuing a call for the Department of Education to “immediately suspend all plans to issue a new Title IX regulation due to the Department’s inability to provide a sound explanation why the 2020 regulation requires revision.” (1) The thought leaders include professors of law and other disciplines, leading civil rights attorneys, physicians, women’s rights advocates, non-profit executives, a former university president, and other persons from across the country (2).

The 82 thought leaders are echoing the calls of two other groups that are urging the federal Department of Education to drop plans to issue a new Title IX regulation.

On April 4, 26 leading organizations sent a letter to the Department of Education noting that concludes, “We strongly urge the Department to set aside its Title IX rulemaking and to allow institutions to continue their efforts to comply with the 2020 Rule.” (3)
On April 5, the Attorneys General from 15 states issued a letter expressing concerns regarding the proposed regulation’s “detrimental effect,” and calling on the Department to “cancel its plans to engage in rulemaking on Title IX.” (4)

The three groups’ concerns revolve around the likelihood that the new regulation will give rise to a wave of civil rights lawsuits in the areas of free speech, due process, and women’s sports:

Free Speech: A federal appeals court recently ruled that the University of Central Florida’s broadly worded free speech policy violates the First Amendment. In a 38-page decision, Judge Kevin Newsom wrote the UCF policy “objectively chills speech because its operation would cause a reasonable student to fear expressing potentially unpopular beliefs.” (5)

Due Process: It is widely believed that the upcoming regulation will reduce due process protections for accused students and faculty members (6). SAVE’s Analysis of Judicial Decisions Affirming the 2020 Title IX Regulation summarizes 175 lawsuits to date in which judges have ruled in favor of the accused (7).

Women’s Sports: The new regulation would redefine “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity (8). This would allow transgenders, who are generally taller and stronger, to compete in sports events against persons who were biological females at birth. This would vitiate the purpose of Title IX, which is to assure fairness for all students regardless of sex. To date, 12 states have enacted laws that ban the participation of transgenders against persons who were biological females at birth (9).

Persons are urged to contact Secretary Miguel Cardona and request that he immediately suspend plans to issue a new Title IX regulation. Telephone (202) 401-3000; fax (202) 260-7867; email ocr@ed.gov.

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