Ohio college 'illegally forcing students' to share bathrooms with opposite sex: watchdog
A conservative legal watchdog group is urging both the Trump administration and the state of Ohio to investigate Kenyon College, which they allege is breaking the state's recently passed bathroom bill categorizing restrooms by biological sex.
America First Legal sent letters to Craig Trainor, the Department of Education's acting assistant secretary in the Office for Civil Rights, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Thursday morning urging the agencies to open an investigation of the college.
"Ohio law is clear: multi-occupancy restrooms must be designated for either men or women," Will Scolinos, AFL legal counsel said. "Schools of higher education should focus more on educating students rather than re-educating them into radical gender policies that require students, men and women, to share the same restrooms. It is not normal."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the college said, "Kenyon fully complies with all state and federal laws."
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"We are committed to ensuring that women on Kenyon's campus do not experience discrimination or harassment of any kind, just as we do for all students and the faculty and staff who support them," the spokesperson said. "We look forward to working with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights and the Ohio Attorney General to address any concerns they may have."
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Kenyon College is being accused of violating Ohio law by allowing multi-occupancy restrooms in its administrative and academic buildings to avoid sex-based requirements. The law, which went into effect in February, designates student restrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities by biological sex.
According to its policy update, Kenyon justifies its administrative multi-occupancy restrooms by stating that the restrooms are "not, and cannot be, designated for use exclusively by students" and students "are permitted to use these restrooms if they choose to do so, but the student restroom requirements outlined above do not apply to these facilities."
However, Ohio law states that any "restroom... accessible to multiple individuals at the same time" must adhere to sex-based entry restrictions, AFL argues.
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The letter points out that other Ohio schools comply by applying these restrictions to all multi-occupancy restrooms.
AFL also alleges the policy doesn't align with President Donald Trump's executive order, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."
"The order establishes that it is the official policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female, defining 'sex' as 'an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female [and] is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of 'gender identity,'" AFL's letter to the DOE states.
"Furthermore, Kenyon's failure to provide separate restrooms for men and women in academic and administrative buildings appears to violate Title IX," the letter reads.
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is already investigating Denver Public Schools, a school district, for potentially violating Title IX by installing multi-stall, all-gender restrooms.
"Let me be clear: it is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind," Trainor said in a news release last month.
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Kenyon, a private university, encouraged its students affected by the new law to "seek support" from its civil rights office, college chaplains, campus safety, the counseling center and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) office.
The Department of Education, which Trump has indicated he wants to fully dismantle and where workforce reductions are already underway, is a key battleground in the new administration for overturning Biden-era DEI and woke policies.
It also launched an investigation into 60 universities due to allegations of antisemitism and violence against Jewish students since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.Original article source: Ohio college 'illegally forcing students' to share bathrooms with opposite sex: watchdog
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