Content warning: This article contains references to sexual violence.
The Biden Administration released revised Title IX regulations on Apr. 19, impacting policies across educational settings. The main changes include increased protections for LGBTQ+ students and sexual assault survivors. These changes, which Stanford and all universities are required to implement, will take effect on Aug. 1.
The Stanford Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Education (SHARE) Title IX Office started its review process. SHARE is “just now beginning to review these new regulations, comparing them to what was originally proposed, and determining what is needed in order to comply,” wrote Patrick Dunkley, vice provost for Institutional Equity, Access, and Community, and Stephen Chen, director of the SHARE Title IX Office, in a statement published in the Stanford Report.
When the U.S. Department of Education first proposed revisions to Title IX regulations in June 2022, Stanford reviewed them and participated in the public comment process to provide feedback. Members of the Stanford community were invited to provide input for the university to consider during the evaluation process.
The form to submit input on the regulations is still open, and Dunkley and Chen encouraged students to continue sharing their thoughts in the Stanford report.
The final regulations, based on the 2022 proposal, “clarify Title IX’s requirement that schools promptly and effectively address all forms of sex discrimination,” wrote Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon in a statement released by the U.S. Department of Education.
The revised regulations expanded definitions of sex-based harassment and discrimination, including discrimination based on pregnancy and “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics” as types of misconduct that institutions are required to address.
“Given the dangerous hostility, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people, the rule explicitly reaffirms that LGBTQI+ students are protected against sex-based discrimination,” wrote Alyssa Burgart, affiliated faculty in the program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
This quarter, Burgart is the professor of FEMGEN 143: “One in Five: The Law, Policy and Politics of Campus Sexual Assault,” which was designed and previously taught by Michele Dauber, Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law.
Despite the increased protections against sex-based discriminations in the revisions, Burgart believed that the revised Title IX regulations “continues to prioritize the comfort of accused rapists over the education and safety of survivors.”
She referenced several shortcomings, including the omission of a mention about protections for transgender athletes.
Additionally, she criticized that religious universities are able to apply for exemptions from Title IX, which Burgart believes will allow them to “tolerate and promote discrimination against LGBTQI+ students. This unacceptably prioritizes the religious beliefs of perpetrators over the education and safety of LGBTQI+ students.”
The new regulations protect against retaliation for those who exercise their Title IX rights. The requirement for live hearings and cross-examinations was removed, which Burgart wrote are “unnecessary and traumatizing procedures from the 2020 regulation” that are “deeply re-traumatizing for survivors.”
Universities are prohibited from suspending students until an investigation ends and “even after an investigation finds in favor of a survivor, perpetrators remain unlikely to face any serious consequences,” Burgart wrote. “This is an institutional betrayal of survivors.”
Burgart believes that there is still much to be done. “Too often, universities fail the students we should protect,” she wrote. “We need courageous universities that are ready to uphold survivors over perpetrators.”