Titles VII & IX

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces, among other statutes,

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX states:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Then we have Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title VI and Race, Color and National Origin Discrimination

No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

That is the law!

You cannot discriminate. Period.

Now wouldn’t you like to know what discrimination is? How to prevent it? What to do if it happens?

However, the states of Florida, Texas, and other Republican states don’t want you to know anything about Title IX.

GOP states targeting diversity, equity efforts in higher ed

AP News

By David A. Lieb

April 17, 2023

Frustrated by college diversity initiatives he says are “fomenting radical and toxic divisions,” Texas state Rep. Carl Tepper set out to put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education.

The freshman Republican lawmaker filed a bill to ban such offices. Three months later, he filed a new version of the legislation doing the same thing. The difference? Tepper switched the wording to align with a new model bill developed by the Manhattan Institute and Goldwater Institute, a pair of conservative think tanks based in New York and Arizona, respectively.

Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 bills this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the bill-tracking software Plural. The measures have become the latest flashpoint in a cultural battle involving race, ethnicity and gender that has been amplified by prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, potential rivals for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

Now keep in mind that… it is a federal law. The states are putting schools and colleges between a rock and a hard place.

University of Missouri medical students have lobbied against the legislation, asserting it could jeopardize the school’s accreditation and prevent doctors from learning about unique circumstances affecting the health of people from various ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

“We’re not just hurting ourselves, we’re hurting patients if these bills get passed,” medical student Jay Devineni said.