New Title IX regulations released

After a series of delays, federal officials on Friday released final rulemaking on Title IX, the landmark protections against sexual discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Passed in 1972, Title IX was essentially designed to level the playing field for female athletes, but inequities persist. Interest in the issue is intense: Federal officials said they received more than 240,000 comments on the proposed rule.

In a written statement, Catherine E. Lhamon, the U.S. Department of Education's assistant secretary for civil rights, said the new regulations "promote educational equity and opportunity for students …as well as accountability and fairness, while empowering and supporting students and families."

The department has released a number of resources, including an unofficial version of the regulations (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9-unofficial-final-rule-2024.pdf), a fact sheet (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9-final-rule-factsheet.pdf), a summary of the rule's major provisions (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9-final-rule-summary.pdf), and a guide (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/resource-nondiscrimination-policies.pdf) for drafting Title IX nondiscrimination policies, notices of nondiscrimination and grievance procedures. The regulations will be effective Aug. 1, 2024, and apply to complaints of sex discrimination regarding alleged conduct from that date forward.