WASHINGTON, DC (March 4, 2024): Today, Southeastern Legal Foundation, together with Mountain States Legal Foundation, testified before the Executive Office of the President regarding the Biden Administration’s proposed changes to Title IX. The two groups warned that the Department of Education’s proposed changes to the current law would undermine free speech, destroy due process on campus, and create an unwieldy bureaucratic system that will be nearly impossible for schools to implement.
The Biden Administration’s changes will infringe on free speech by lowering the standard for what constitutes sexual harassment and by expanding sex-based harassment to include sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The changes to the rule fail to define any of these terms or otherwise curb the government’s power to censor speech, so students and teachers will be required to affirm incorrect pronouns while self-censoring out of fear of being reported to campus Title IX coordinators.
The Administration’s proposed changes will also undo several due process protections that were enshrined into federal law under the Trump Administration. They include eliminating the right for the accused to see evidence against him and the right to cross-examination. Additionally, the Biden Administration is mobilizing Title IX coordinators, giving them the sole, unprecedented authority to review complaints of harassment, investigate them, and punish students in one fell swoop. Students and staff alike must now live in constant fear that their every move is being watched.
Director of Legal Initiatives for Southeastern Legal Foundation Cece O’Leary states, “We are hopeful that the Biden Administration will consider our concerns on behalf of college and K-12 students and will implement some of our recommended changes. If not, we are prepared to take legal action to protect their constitutional rights.”