Governor Abbott Directs Texas Universities To Ignore President Biden’s Unlawful Title IX Rewrite
Governor Greg Abbott today sent a letter to Texas' public university systems and community colleges directing them to not comply with President Joe Biden's recent revision of Title IX and to refrain from implementing any new system-wide policy related to this revision.
"As I have already made clear, Texas will not comply with President Joe Biden's rewrite of Title IX that contradicts the original purpose and spirit of the law to support the advancement of women," reads the letter. "Last week, I instructed the Texas Education Agency to ignore President Biden's illegal dictate of Title IX. Today, I am instructing every public college and university in the State of Texas to do the same.
I signed laws to ensure the safety of our students on campus and provide a process for adjudicating reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault with adequate due process for all parties involved, as well as laws to protect the integrity of women's sports by prohibiting men from competing against female athletes—and I will not let President Biden erase the advancements Texas has made."
The Governor sent the letter to Texas A&M University System, Texas Southern University, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System, Texas Woman's University System, University of Houston System, University of North Texas System, and University of Texas System, as well as Texas' community colleges.
Last year, the Governor signed the Save Women’s Sports Act into law to protect the integrity of fair competition and women’s sports by prohibiting biological men from competing against female athletes at Texas colleges and universities. In 2021, Governor Abbott signed a similar law to protect girls’ sports in Texas public schools. Governor Abbott signed Senate Bills 968 and 969 in 2017 and Senate Bill 212 and House Bill 1735 in 2019 to address student safety and adjudication processes for reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault on college campuses.
Read the Governor’s letter to Texas' higher education institutions.