Fights between rallygoers and protesters interrupted President Trump at an appearance in South Carolina last night. Doctors said that Pope Leo needs no further treatment for lung cancer. Mike Bender, who covers the Trump administration, explains how Title IX keeps changing.
Cornell has a process for complaints like the one from Jane Doe, the pseudonymous former Cornell student who says seven men raped her at a frat party. All universities do. It is called a Title IX investigation, and its purpose is to figure out whether and how much to punish the accused. That might surprise people who know Title IX for building up women's sports in the United States. Now Trump's vision for the law has expanded beyond athletics and sexual misconduct. His administration is using it to prevent the government from recognizing genders besides men and women.
Title IX is one provision in a 1972 education law, and it was not the main concern of the lawmakers who passed the bill. President Richard Nixon did not even mention it when he signed the law. Yet its enforcement has reshaped education and changed drastically with the politics of the time. Initially, Title IX forced universities to dismantle sex-based admission caps and expand women's sports. In 1975, Cornell instructor Lin Farley coined the phrase "sexual harassment," and federal courts soon began allowing such cases under Title IX.
The Obama administration tightened enforcement in 2011, requiring complaint systems and a "preponderance of evidence" standard. Activists praised the move, while legal scholars and civil liberties groups warned that accused students lacked due process. Trump later rescinded that guidance and codified stricter rules, adding courtroom-style hearings with live cross-examination. The law's meaning has been rewritten repeatedly, with each administration reshaping how Title IX is applied.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing