Civil rights groups sound alarm over Energy Department Title IX regs

Politico

16-06-2025

A TITLE IX DEADLINE — The Trump administration is seeking to rescind key civil rights protections for sex discrimination in sports and education programs through a swift regulatory process at an unlikely agency: the Department of Energy.
— Buried in a list of more than three dozen regulation changes published in May, the DOE is moving to rescind regulations that oversee sports participation and some sex discrimination protections for students in education programs. The regulations align with a series of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year that seek to ban transgender athletes from women's sports and one that proclaimed there are only two sexes, male and female.
— The direct final rules would take effect by July 15 unless there are significant adverse comments submitted against the regulations by today. Civil rights advocates argue the agency is circumventing the traditional notice and comment rulemaking process by using a regulatory process reserved for noncontroversial rules. They say the process does not apply to Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, and at risk are protections that have been around for decades.
— So far, more than 2,000 comments have been submitted on the athletics rule and more than 8,200 comments have been submitted on the rule on education programs as of Sunday evening. But comments submitted on the regulation have been unable to be publicly viewed.
— More than two dozen agencies play a part in Title IX compliance. Civil rights advocates say they are concerned about what precedent it could set for how other agencies overhaul their civil rights enforcement guidelines.
'If this is successful, it really creates a blueprint for dismantling civil rights protections across the board while flying under the radar,' said Kel O'Hara, senior attorney for policy and education equity at Equal Rights Advocates.
— What are the changes: Schools would no longer be required to allow a student of the opposite sex to try out for a non-contact sports team if their school does not have one for their sex. For example, a school would no longer be required to allow a female athlete to try out for the men's tennis team if their school does not have a women's team, which advocates say is largely common in schools in rural areas. The agency claims that the provision ignores differences between the sexes.
For education programs, schools would no longer be required to take 'remedial action' or 'affirmative action' to assist students in overcoming the effects of of sex discrimination they've faced.
— 'This is a clear example about how the anti-trans sports ban executive order doesn't do anything to protect women and girls,' said Shiwali Patel, senior director of safe and inclusive schools at the National Women's Law Center. 'Really, here is a way that they're using it to harm athletic opportunities for all women and girls.'
— The agency, in the regulations, said it is rescinding the provisions because it deemed them to be 'unnecessary.' DOE did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
— How does Energy even play a role here?: While DOE isn't the main enforcer of Title IX, the agency's Office of Economic Impact and Diversity monitors and enforces compliance among educational programs at institutions that receive federal funds or grants from the agency. The office has long used the law to close the gap between men and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and the agency's Office of Civil Rights investigates sex-based discrimination.
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Driving the day
TRUMP, HARVARD HEAD TO THE COURTROOM … AGAIN — Harvard University and the Trump administration will face off again today at 10:30 a.m. in a Boston courtroom over the president's bid to prevent international students from entering the U.S. or getting visas to attend the Ivy League school. The institution is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the administration from taking further actions while the case is ongoing.
— Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order instructing the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to disregard a proclamation Trump issued wielding presidential immigration authority to effectively ban foreign nationals from entering the U.S. to study or teach at Harvard.
— Harvard's lawyers argue in their amended suit that the president's actions 'are not undertaken to protect the 'interests of the United States,' but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard.' Pointing to recent comments by Trump in the Oval Office and on social media, the school contends that his latest actions are unconstitutional retaliation for its decision to go to court rather than acquiesce to his demands.
— The government argues that Trump's proclamation is not 'retaliatory' and instead is 'based on concrete and articulated concerns about national security, springing from institutional noncompliance and entanglements with foreign adversaries.' It also says it's within the president's 'constitutional and statutory authority to govern the immigration system and foreign affairs of the nation.'
JUDGE DECLINES TO RELEASE KHALIL — A federal judge declined Friday to order the Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention despite finding that the basis for his arrest and initial detention was illegal, POLITICO'S Kyle Cheney and Erica Orden report.
— U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision to revoke Khalil's green card and tee up his deportation was likely unconstitutional retaliation for his role organizing pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University's campus last year. But on Friday, Farbiarz said the administration could continue to keep Khalil detained in Louisiana, where he's been locked up since March, on a separate alleged immigration violation that officials lodged after his arrest.
— That violation was based on an allegation that Khalil failed to list prior employers and membership in certain organizations when he obtained his green card. Khalil and his attorneys say the second charge was linked to the same retaliation campaign. 'That second charge has not been preliminarily enjoined by the court,' Farbiarz wrote in response to a demand for clarity from Khalil's attorneys.
Report Roundup
— A poll by the National Parents Union found parents across the political spectrum strongly oppose provisions in the Republican-backed reconciliation bill, including cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, college financial aid and public education.
Syllabus
— Teachers union president Randi Weingarten resigns from DNC: POLITICO
— 100 students in a school meant for 1,000: Inside Chicago's refusal to deal with its nearly empty schools: Chalkbeat/ProPublica
— Undocumented students rethink their college dreams after Texas cuts their access to cheaper tuition: The Texas Tribune
— Kids are ditching traditional college for career tech programs. Parents are concerned: USA Today