The Trump administration is trying to quickly and quietly roll back certain civil rights protections in schools by exploiting an administrative loophole and pushing the process through an unusual federal agency — the Department of Energy.
The Department of Energy has proposed a rule that would rescind a section of Title IX — the 1972 civil rights law that bars sex discrimination in federally funded school and athletics programs — that requires schools to expand athletic opportunities to the “underrepresented sex.” For decades the rule has allowed girls to try out for some boys sports teams, for example, when there is no equivalent team offered at their school and vice versa.
Dismantling this portion of the law would affect K-12 schools and universities that receive funding from the Energy Department. While the department is not the primary enforcer of Title IX, it does distribute funds to schools for scientific research and has to comply with federal regulations.