New Title IX Rules Released

19 Apr New Title IX Rules Released

After nail-biting years of waiting, the new Title IX regulations are finally here!

Today the U.S. Department of Education released its final regulations implementing Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The Pregnant Scholar at UC Law SF’s Center for WorkLife Law applauds the Department of Education for providing a strong interpretation of the law that both protects millions of pregnant and parenting students and provides clear guidance for educational institutions. 

Under the old rules, pregnant and parenting students regularly called our nationwide helpline after being kicked out of their academic programs for missing a couple classes to attend doctor’s appointments, told they were no longer welcome in school, or forced as part of their academic requirements to engage in activities that aren’t safe during pregnancy or postpartum. The Department of Education’s new Title IX rules will safely keep students in school, and their families and communities will benefit as a result.

In particular, we’re thrilled to see the new regulations:

• Include a clear requirement for academic institutions to provide pregnant and postpartum students with medically-necessary leave, reasonable accommodations, and lactation space. 
• Clarify who is responsible for ensuring students get the reasonable academic adjustments, leave, and anti-discrimination protections they need to thrive. And, require staff to notify students of where they can find help.
• Continue to ban discrimination based on pregnancy-related conditions including abortion and miscarriage, and newly define ‘parental status’ in a way that reflects the diversity of student parent families. 
• Offer privacy protections–a particularly important safeguard post-Dobbs.

Our team pushed hard for these regulations for years because of the transformation we know they’ll bring– now it’s time to celebrate! Thank you and well done to all of you who joined us in sharing your stories, submitting comments, and spreading the word. 

What’s next?

The new regulations represent the highlight of nine years of tireless work alongside students and other partners. But our work is far from over. This year, the Pregnant Scholar will train thousands of campus administrators on the new regulations and provide technical assistance and policy implementation coaching to benefit campuses serving over a million students. We are also re-creating all of the tools in our online resource center to reflect the new regulations. Please, join us:

• Visit our Toolkit: Updates to reflect the new Title IX rules are underway
• Join our webinar: Our first (free) training on the new regulations will be May 1^st!
• Join a Drop-In TA session: Beginning in May, we’re hosting “Title IX Tuesdays” drop-in technical assistance sessions for campus administrators working to implement new policies re: pregnant and parenting students. Sign up for an access code.
• Spread the word: share the news that the new rights are here using our graphics and posters.

Finally, I hope you’ll roll up your sleeves. While remarkable, the new regulations do not significantly address the needs of parenting students beyond the pregnancy and postpartum period. The Pregnant Scholar will continue advocating and engaging at the institutional, state, and federal levels to end discrimination against student parents and to ensure that all family caregivers are supported in earning their degrees. We hope you’ll stand with us in this next phase of our journey.