The Trump administration has issued a rule that formally rescinds the Title IX regulations promulgated by the Biden administration in 2024. With some minor exceptions, the regulations now in force are those issued by the first Trump administration in 2020.
Today’s action has limited practical impact, as a federal court struck down the Biden regulations and they never took effect. As a result, institutions have been subject to the 2020 regulations all along. Today’s move simply formalizes this situation.
Courts struck down the Biden regulations largely because they found those rules exceeded the administration’s statutory authority by more broadly defining “discrimination on the basis of sex” to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other things.
For community colleges, one of the most notable aspects of the 2020 regulations is the requirement that institutions conduct a live hearing with cross-examination of the witnesses by the parties’ representatives. This required a more “judicial” type of proceeding than many colleges had used previously. A change to the 2020 regulations under today’s rule would allow decision-makers to consider witness statements even if the witness did not submit to cross-examination.
