The U.S. Department of Education rescinded a Biden administration policy regarding Title IX, impacting the application of regulations at federally funded educational institutions or programs across the country. The change came last week and reverts the policy to a 2020 regulation from the Trump administration and narrows it to biological sex as opposed to gender ideologies, which Trump’s order labeled as “inconsistent.”
USC never fully implemented the 2024 Biden administration changes, due to a federal court injunction, and has functioned under the 2020 regulations.
In a statement to Annenberg Media, the university said, “The government’s formal rescinding of the 2024 regulations does not change USC’s current Title IX policies, processes, or protections, because these regulations were not implemented at USC due to a nationwide injunction. USC remains committed to providing supportive resources and a fair and equitable process for addressing reports of sex discrimination and sexual harassment.”
Regardless, the announcement brings fear, confusion and anger to USC students.
“It’s really fu***d up,” said Elizabeth Aller, a fourth-year sociology student at USC. “It makes sense that it’s happening because the wording of Title Nine is so vague… It makes sense that you can add things and also take [them] away depending on whoever’s in charge.”
The Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX protected from nearly all types of sexual misconduct and eliminated live hearings. However, the return of the 2020 rule significantly limits what can be reported on and mandates the use of live hearings. Foreign study misconduct, off-campus misconduct, and anything not considered to be “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” do not need to be investigated by universities.
The refurbished rule, spearheaded by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, will “protect women’s safety, dignity, and educational opportunities in schools that receive federal funding,” according to the press release from the Department of Education.
McMahon said in the department’s filing that the 2024 rule from Biden’s administration was not enforceable nationwide and therefore “should be recodified in the Code of Federal Regulations.”
Title IX, first passed in 1972, aimed at prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs, including sports. Over the years, Title IX received substantial changes to its definition of sex and gender identity, ranging from female students’ rights to single sex bathrooms and locker rooms to competitive athletic competition restricted to biological female athletes.
Following the changes from former President Biden’s broader terms on gender in Executive Order 14168, the Trump administration has rescinded the order, saying that gender identity “reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality.”
Moving forward, the White House defined sex and gender identity on separate grounds: biological birth and an “infinite continuum.” The Department of Education also said that Title IX ensures that “the regulations on the books reflect Congress’s common-sense protections.”
“Thanks to today’s action, the published Title IX regulations faithfully reflect court orders and Congressional intent,” McMahon said.
Harshita Poddar, a second-year business administration student at USC, was concerned about how the change will impact student comfort. “I think it might make students a bit more afraid to speak out because they might be unclear on what the law entails or the extent to which they can go and consciously share about their experience,” she said.
The Trump administration first required federal organizations to recognize only two sexes on Jan. 20, 2025, according to the White House. The change, labeled under Section 2a and 2b, explains that “‘Sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity’” and “‘women’ or ‘woman’ and ‘girls’ or ‘girl’ shall mean adult and juvenile human females, respectively.”
The 2020 reinstatement raises concerns about sexual assault survivors and the safety of those within the LGBTQIA+ community. The main changes to Title IX will change how sexual misconduct is investigated on college campuses.
“I don’t understand why sexuality… wouldn’t be a part of the Title IX Act," said Aller.
Edited by Jadon Frank, Ally Nakamura, and Andriana Yatsyshyn