New Title IX regulations delayed

The Biden administration officially pushed back to October the release of new regulations regarding Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The final regulations were expected this month based on the Education Department’s regulatory agenda. A coalition of gender justice and survivor advocacy organizations has called on the administration to stick to that timeline, saying that a delay would be harmful to students.

The department announced the delay in a blog post Friday.

“The department received more than 240,000 public comments on the proposed rule—nearly twice as many comments as the department received during its last rulemaking on Title IX,” officials wrote in the post. “Carefully considering and reviewing these comments takes time, and is essential to ensuring the final rule is enduring.”

The delay also applies to the administration’s proposed rule for transgender student athletes, which received more than 150,000 comments.

National Women’s Law Center president Fatima Goss Graves said in a statement that the administration should abandon the planned delay.

“Without the final rule, long promised for release this month, it will be impossible for schools to update their processes and policies by fall—the time each year when students new to campus life are at especially high risk of experiencing sexual assault, otherwise known as the ‘red zone,’” Goss Graves said in the statement. “The Trump-era rules place indefensible obstacles in the way of survivors seeking help. We are deeply disappointed that as the result of today’s announcement, the Trump rules will continue to impose harm on student survivors for many more months.”