The Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance May
13 to help educational institutions—colleges and universities, as well
as PreK-12 schools—understand their responsibilities to serve
transgender students. ACE has now released an issue brief on the guidance documents issued by the federal agencies.
Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,
institutions receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a
student's sex, including a student’s transgender status. The guidance
materials—a Dear Colleague Letter and a Policies and Practices
document—are directed to institutions “at all educational levels,
including school districts, colleges, and universities,” although the
Policies and Practices document focuses on elementary and secondary
schools.
The ACE issue brief
(391 KB PDF) looks at select aspects of the guidance and answers possible questions
campuses may have, such as how institutions must refer to transgender
students; whether and how to provide sex-segregated facilities to
transgender students; and more. The issue brief is intended as general
guidance only, and does not constitute legal advice.