By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Senior Writer and Professor, Sports Media, Ithaca College staurows@ithaca.edu
On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of a “Title IX Special Investigations Team”, referred to as the SIT. Comprised of a special team of investigators, the purpose of the Title IX SIT is to “ensure timely, consistent resolutions to protect students, and especially female athletes, from the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs” (Office of Communication & Outreach, 2025). According to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, the reason for creating the SIT was, “…a staggering number of complaints about men competing in women’s sports and invading women-only intimate spaces”.
In an interesting development given the reported staggering number of complaints received by the Department of Education, the Title IX SIT announced later in the day on April 4th that they were undertaking a directed investigation into the California Department of Education for its alleged failure to protect women’s sports. As is defined in the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Case Processing Manual (CPM), a directed investigation “is an OCR-initiated process that allows OCR to address possible discrimination that is not currently being addressed through OCR’s complaint, compliance review or technical assistance activities” (p. 21).
The Title IX SIT will be staffed by investigators and attorneys from the ED Office for Civil Rights; attorneys from the DOJ Office for Civil Rights; attorneys from the ED Office of General Counsel; staff from the ED Student Privacy Policy Office; and an FSA Enforcement Investigator (Office of Communication and Outreach, 2025). They will employ a rapid resolution investigation process which “is an expedited case processing approach that can be used to resolve cases in any of OCR’s statutory areas either during the evaluation stage or after issuance of the letter of notification” (the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Case Processing Manual, 2025, p. 12).
The narrow focus of the Title IX SIT reflects the priorities as set forth in two executive orders signed by President Trump early in his second term, one entitled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” that bans transgender girls and women from participating on teams that match their gender identity. Pertinent to the position taken by the Trump Administration, the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” Executive Order states that as a matter of national policy, the U.S. recognizes two sexes, male and female.
The creation of the Title IX SIT signals a shift in how Title IX investigations will be handled, reflecting a more aggressive approach as well as the need for interagency cooperation given the reduction in workforce within the Department of Education. In acknowledging this shift, Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated that “protecting” women’s sports was a priority for the Justice Department. She went on to say, “The collaborative effort with the Department of Education will enable our attorneys to take comprehensive action when women’s sports or spaces are threatened and use the full power of the law to remedy any violation of women’s civil rights” (Office of Public Affairs, 2025, para. 3).
According to reporters Brooke Schultz and Matthew Stone (2025) with Education Week, the U.S. Department of Education opened up at least 85 investigations of school districts, colleges and universities, state education departments, and athletic associations on a range of issues as of March 25, 2025. Out of that group, 21 of the investigations are contesting policies pertaining to transgender students, their ability to be able to participate on teams that match their gender identities and their access to locker rooms and bathroom facilities (Schultz & Stone, 2025). Nearly all of the educational entities under investigation (20 of 21) are in states that had explicit guidance for the inclusion and treatment of transgender students and/or safe school laws at the state level barring discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The one remaining entity (a university) was in a state that did not have a law but “state agencies have explicitly stated they interpret existing protections against discrimination based on sex to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity” (Movement Advancement Project, 2025).
Some of the schools are in the Fourth and Seventh Circuits where the Courts of Appeals in Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board (2020) and A.C. v. Metropolitan School District of Martinsville et al. (2023) “ruled that gender identity was a protected category under Title IX, following the Supreme Court’s holding in Bostock v. Clayton County that an employer’s termination of an employee based on their gender identity violated Title VII” (Heaphy, Deyananda, and Hemminger, 2025). The priority as set in the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order relies on a different interpretation of Title IX, thus the conflict and the likelihood that the resolution of this matter will be brought before the Supreme Court.
References
Heaphy, T. J., Dayananda,S., & Hemminger, L. (2025, April 9). Title IX Special Investigations Team: The Department of Education and the Department of Justice join forces to investigate gender identity policies in schools. Client Alert. Willkie.com.
Movement Advancement Project. (2025, April 15). “Equality Maps: Safe Schools Laws.” https://www.mapresearch.org/equality-maps/safe_school_laws.
McMahon, L. (2025, April 4). New Title IX team will investigate ‘men competing in women’s sports’. New York Post Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjILw3eZmpU
Office of Communication and Outreach. (2025, April 4). U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice announce Title IX Special Investigations Team. Press release. Washington, DC: United States Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-and-us-department-of-justice-announce-title-ix-special-investigations-team
Office of Public Affairs. (2025, April 4). Press release. Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-department-education-and-us-department-justice-announce-title-ix-special-investigations
Schultz, B., & Stone, M. (2025, March 27). See Which Schools Trump’s Education Department Is Investigating and Why. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/see-which-schools-trumps-education-department-is-investigating-and-why/2025/03
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. (2025, February). Case Processing Manual. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/media/document/ocr-case-processing-manual-us-department-of-education-office-civil-rights-33891.pdf
