FACT SHEET: U.S. Department of Education’s 2022 Proposed Amendments to its Title IX Regulations
Over the last 50 years, since Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) was signed into law, it has paved the way for tremendous strides in access to education, scholarships, athletics, and more for millions of students across the country. In spite of this historic progress, women and girls still face fundamental barriers to equal education opportunity. Rates of sexual harassment and assault in our nation’s schools and colleges remain unacceptable high. Far too many women see their education derailed because of pregnancy discrimination. The promise of Title IX, an education free from sex discrimination, remains as vital now as it was when it was first signed into law.
Today, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education released for public comment proposed changes to the regulation that help schools and colleges implement this vital civil rights legislation. The proposed amendments aim to ensure full protection under Title IX for students, teachers, and employees from all forms of sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment and sexual violence, in federally funded elementary schools, secondary schools, and postsecondary institutions.
These proposed regulations will advance Title IX’s goal of ensuring that no person experiences sex discrimination in education, that all students receive appropriate support as needed to access equal educational opportunities, and that school procedures for investigating and resolving complaints of sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment and sexual violence, are fair to all involved.
The Department’s proposed amendments will restore vital protections for students in our nation’s schools which were eroded by controversial regulations implemented during the previous Administration. Those regulations weakened protections for survivors of sexual assault and diminished the promise of an education free from discrimination. The new regulations proposed by the Department will also provide clear rules to help schools meet their Title IX obligation to eliminate sex discrimination in their programs and activities. Through the proposed regulations, the Department reaffirms its core commitment to fundamental fairness for all parties; protecting freedom of speech and academic freedom; and respect for the autonomy and protections that complainants need and deserve when they come forward with a claim of sex discrimination.
The Department’s proposed regulations will also strengthen protections for LGBTQI+ students by clarifying that Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sex apply to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In developing these proposed regulations, the Department consulted extensively with stakeholders, and received input from students, parents, educators, state government representatives, advocates, lawyers, researchers, and representatives from elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools. The Department also held its first-ever nationwide virtual public hearing on Title IX in June 2021 and conducted a careful review of federal case law to support its comprehensive review of current Title IX policy and development of the proposed regulations.
The proposed regulations would:
Clearly protect students and employees from all forms of sex discrimination
The Department’s proposed regulations clarify that Title IX’s prohibition of discrimination based on sex includes protections against discrimination based on sex stereotypes and pregnancy. The Department is
