Paperback coming of Title IX history
The New Press plans to release a trade paperback version of 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination in March 2026. That’s good news, especially in an era when Title IX history is misunderstood and attacks on this important civil rights law feel like déjà vu all over again, as the late baseball great Yogi Berra once said.
Speaking of sports, a federal district judge this past week approved an antitrust settlement that will send tens of millions of dollars to college athletes for use of their names, images, and likenesses (NIL). And colleges have been setting aside millions more to cover legal fees in what they anticipate will be a slew of lawsuits when the bulk of NIL payments leave female athletes on the sidelines. Read this excellent overview by Sportico for details and a view of what’s ahead.
I highlighted the antitrust suit in my previous blog post on January 20 and haven’t blogged for months. The chaos rapidly unleashed since President Donald Trump and his Education Secretary Linda MacMahon took office has been hard to keep up with, I confess. Here are a few highlights of some Title IX happenings over the past few months
On the federal front
- A federal judge in January struck down the 1,500-page Title IX regulations adopted after an extensive public process during the Biden Administration. The judge ruled, in part, that interpreting Title IX’s prohibition of sex discrimination to apply to discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation overstepped the executive branch’s authority. The regulations reverted to ones instituted during Trump’s first term with Education Sec. Betsy DeVos assisting him.
- The Trump Administration has weaponized the Education Department and its Office for Civil Rights to launch investigations of K-12 school and universities in order to stop initiatives related to diversity, equity, or inclusion, The Hill reports.
- A tsunami of executive orders, apparently Trump’s favorite political vehicle, included one that he signed on the first day of his second term. His order declared that there are only two genders tied to two sexes, male and female (which is scientifically incorrect), and anything else constitutes “gender ideology” unworthy of federal agencies’ support. Republicans across the county have pushed bills attacking the rights of transgender students in particular. The murkiness of this legal swamp prompts some school districts to back off of protections for this targeted minority, as in my home state of New Hampshire. Other states have held fast to civil rights for all students, such as Maine, whose Gov. Janet Mills told Trump, “We’ll see you in court.”
- Trump and Secretary MacMahon have been open about wanting to abolish the entire Department of Education, as Ronald Reagan and others before them tried to do. The president can’t unilaterally do that. Instead, Trump cut half of the department’s staff.
In other news
- End Rape on Campus shared a video of a stage performance of When It Happens To You, a new play by best-selling author Tani O’Dell, in hopes that it may be used as a creative teaching tool about sexual assault and its aftermaths. You can see it here with the password park9212.
- Researchers compiled a “feminist legal geography” of sexual assault prevention at U.S. colleges under Title IX.
- A history lesson for you: A Trump order rescinded one of the historical building blocks that led to Title IX. In January 2025 he rescinded President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 that prohibited employment discrimination by federal contractors, though not discrimination against women. Pressure from feminists led to Johnson’s Executive Order 11375, which amended 11246 to also prohibit employment discrimination based on sex. That inspired Bernice Sandler to file hundreds of federal complaints against schools and colleges that discriminated against women, reasoning that the schools received federal funds and thus were federal contractors. Her complaints generated momentum that led to passage of Title IX in 1972.
There’s much more happening, of course. Women’s advocates like the National Women’s Law Center, Know Your IX, and others continue to advocate for enforcing Title IX and ending discrimination against girls, women, and other marginalized groups. If you see a news item that you’d like featured in my next blog, contact me with the link!
