Governor Greg Abbott has cautioned Texas A&M University about the risk of losing state funding due to reports suggesting the university will adhere to a Title IX update by the Biden administration. This update expands the legislation to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
On April 1, the Biden administration announced updates to Title IX, a component of a 1972 amendment to the 1965 Higher Education Act that prohibits federally-funded educational institutions from discriminating based on sex.
The forthcoming changes, set to be implemented on August 1, expand this protection to include discrimination based on gender identity, aiming to safeguard transgender students.
Additionally, the revisions reverse a Trump-era modification that granted more rights to students accused of sexual misconduct. Governor Abbott has emerged as a notable adversary to President Biden in recent months, challenging the administration on various policy fronts, such as education and immigration enforcement.
In a recent open letter, Abbott directed Texas universities and public colleges to disregard the Title IX update, arguing that it would impose leftist ideals and undermine the progress made by the state. Abbott posted an article on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday from the local radio network KTRH.
The article, referencing the Texas Scorecard news website, reported on Texas A&M’s stance stating it “is planning to implement Joe Biden’s radical Title IX rewrite this summer.” Abbott added: “If they do, if they act contrary to state policy, they are jeopardizing state funding, including money from the PUF fund.
“Bowing to the leftist agenda will reap consequences.” At approximately 2:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Newsweek reached out to Texas A&M University and Governor Abbott’s office for comments. This article will be revised to include any responses from either party.
In a statement provided to WTAW radio following the receipt of Abbott’s letter, Texas A&M University expressed that it “complies with all federal and state laws and regulations, as well as Texas A&M System policy.”
They continued: “The recent updates to Title IX regulations will require extensive changes to our current operations, and our AVP of Title IX Compliance appropriately initiated steps toward the need to comply with a new federal regulation that goes into effect on Aug. 1.”
In a conversation with Newsweek after Abbott’s letter, a spokesperson from the Education Department emphasized that the final Title IX regulations were meticulously developed to uphold the statutory assurance of preventing sex discrimination in federally funded education.
“As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally funded schools are obligated to comply with these final regulations and we look forward to working with school communities all across the country to ensure the Title IX guarantee of nondiscrimination in school is every student’s experience.”
As per Abbott’s office, the directive letter advising educational institutions in Texas to disregard the Title IX update was dispatched to “Texas A&M University System, Texas Southern University, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System, Texas Women’s University System, University of Houston System, University of North Texas System, and University of Texas System, as well as Texas’ community colleges.”
In it Abbott wrote: “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.”
“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.”
Some activists have criticized Biden’s Title IX updates, claiming that they do not sufficiently protect transgender rights. Specifically, they are advocating for Title IX to explicitly prohibit educational institutions from preventing transgender students from participating in competitions based on their gender identity.
