- Title IX Coordinators, investigators, decisionmakers, and facilitators of an informal resolution process must not have a conflict of interest or bias for or against complainants or respondents generally or an individual complainant or respondent.
- A school’s grievance procedures must give the parties an equal opportunity to present relevant evidence and respond to the relevant evidence of other parties.
- The school’s decisionmakers must objectively evaluate each party’s evidence.
- The proposed regulations would not require a live hearing for evaluating evidence, meaning that if a school determines that its fair and reliable process will be best accomplished with a single-investigator model, it can use that model.
- A school must have a process for a decisionmaker to assess the credibility of parties and witnesses through live questions by the decisionmaker. The proposed regulations would not require cross-examination by the parties for this purpose but would permit a postsecondary institution to use cross-examination if it so chooses or is required to by law.
- In evaluating the parties’ evidence, a school must use the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard of proof unless the school uses the clear-and-convincing-evidence standard in all other comparable proceedings, including other discrimination complaints, in which case the school may use that standard in determining whether sex discrimination occurred.
- A school must not impose disciplinary sanctions under Title IX on any person unless it determines that sex discrimination has occurred.
Protect LGBTQI+ students from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
The proposed regulations would clarify that Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination based on sex applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They would make clear that preventing someone from participating in school programs and activities consistent with their gender identity would cause harm in violation of Title IX, except in some limited areas set out in the statute or regulations. By providing this protection, the proposed provisions would carry out Title IX’s nondiscrimination mandate and help to ensure access to education free from sex discrimination for LGBTQI+ students and others.
The Department plans to issue a separate notice of proposed rulemaking to address whether and how the Department should amend the Title IX regulations to address students’ eligibility to participate on a particular male or female athletics team.
Require schools to provide supportive measures to students and employees affected by conduct that may constitute sex discrimination, including students who have brought complaints or been accused of sex-based harassment.
Under the proposed regulations, schools would be required to offer supportive measures, as appropriate, to restore or preserve a party’s access to the school’s education program or activity. The current regulations require this support only when sexual harassment, rather than any form of sex discrimination, might have occurred.
Clarify and confirm protection from retaliation for students, employees, and others who exercise their Title IX rights.
Retaliation against someone who provides information about alleged sex discrimination or who participates in a school’s Title IX process can interfere with protections guaranteed by Title IX. If
