Coalition Criticizes OCR’s Handling of Title IX Cases

During the Trump administration, the Office for Civil Rights has prioritized Title IX complaints related to transgender students.

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After years of investigating complaints related to campus sexual violence and related Title IX violations, the Education Department has largely stopped doing so, according to a coalition of sexual violence prevention organizations.

In a letter sent Monday to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the organizations cited data showing that the Office for Civil Rights “resolved zero complaints of sexual harassment or violence in 2025 and has opened fewer than 10 sexual violence investigations since March 2025.”

“After dismantling much of its enforcement infrastructure last year, OCR has focused its limited resources on actions that fail to prevent sexual violence or serve survivors—while continuing to justify actions targeting transgender students as measures purportedly intended to prevent sexual violence,” the letter states. “Meanwhile, sexual violence in schools continues to be pervasive and student survivors who have filed Title IX complaints with OCR have seen little to no action from the Department.”

OCR under the second Trump administration has accused universities that allow trans women to compete on the sports teams aligned with their gender identity of violating Title IX and demanded that the institutions strip trans athletes of their records. In creating the Title IX task force last year, the Education Department focused on allegations involving trans women.

McMahon and other Trump officials have repeatedly defended their approach to Title IX, saying that they are enforcing the law as intended.

The organizations noted in the letter that “transgender women and girls are far more likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted than their cisgender peers—due in large part to antitransgender rhetoric and policies—and forcing them into facilities inconsistent with their gender identity increases their risk of victimization.”

They urged the department to end investigations that target trans students and “recommit to Title IX’s core promise of equal access to education for all students.”