Dept. of Education opens Title IX investigation into Western Carolina Univ.
The Department of Education announced the investigation Thursday, claiming that WCU has 'refused to comply with Title IX and to ensure sex-separated intimate spaces in federally funded institutions of higher education.'
The department said that it received credible reports that WCU 'allowed a male to room with a female in a girls' dormitory' and that WCU 'opened an investigation against a female student for asking a male student to leave a female locker room.'
The Department of Education cited a former student who said that the students involved in both incidents identified as transgender women.
'WCU's reported contempt for federal antidiscrimination laws and indifference to, and retaliation against, girls who have spoken up about males invading their intimate spaces is simply unacceptable,' said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
When reached for comment, a Western Carolina University acknowledged receiving notice of the investigation from the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.
'We believe that our campus policies and procedures are compliant with Title IX and all other federal and state laws,' the university said in a statement. 'We will work with OCR to fully resolve this complaint.'
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits, with some exceptions, discrimination on the basis of sex involving any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
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USA Today
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Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the policy interpretation handed down by the U.S. Department of Education 46 years ago, citing a 2024 Supreme Court case between Loper Bright Enterprises and Raimondo. If the court declined, however, defendant lawyers claimed SFA still complies with Title IX under the 1979 guidance. After two days in court, spanning 17 hours and 14 witnesses, Judge Truncale issued a written ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. SFA has been ordered to reinstate all three women's teams. Truncale affirmed that the Loper Bright case cannot be applied to Title IX in what plaintiff attorney John Clune called an "incredibly important" win for gender equity in sports. "If a court were to find that Loper Bright meant that the Department of Education was not allowed to rely on policy interpretations of their own regulations, the entire framework for compliance with gender equity in sports would be thrown out the window," Clune told USA TODAY. 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Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the three-part test but affirmed that SFA is Title IX compliant regardless, citing the test's first and third prongs. The first prong requires 'the number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.' The third requires 'the institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.' Defendant lawyers claimed there is 'no strict rule' defining "substantially proportionate,' and that SFA 'effectively accommodates the interest and abilities of women, despite the discontinuation of the women's beach volleyball, bowling, and golf teams.' Financial pressure from House settlement not valid defense for cutting women's sports SFA opted into the House settlement, where schools are able to pay athletes directly starting this athletic year with a $20.5 million cap per institution. 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Reach USA Today Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@ and follow her on X @petitus25.
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