On January 9, 2025, a federal judge in Kentucky issued a nationwide vacatur of the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX rule, which addressed sex-based harassment, LGBTQI+ students’ rights, and the rights of pregnant and parenting students. The Trump administration has now returned to enforcing the 2020 sexual harassment rule (2020 Rule), including for all pending Title IX investigations that were originally initiated under the 2024 rule. (Note: In addition, LGBTQI+ students are still protected under Title IX, as recognized by many federal courts, and the initial Title IX regulations from 1975 that explicitly protected pregnant and parenting students are still in effect.)

This document suggests ways for schools to continue supporting sexual harassment victims while complying with the 2020 Rule, including practices suggested by the Department’s own documents, like its July 2021 Q&A. For example:

  • The 2020 Rule does not apply to incidents that allegedly occurred before August 14, 2020. In such cases, schools must follow the Title IX requirements that were in place at the time of the alleged incident, even if a complaint was filed after August 14, 2020.
  • The 2020 Rule does not apply to schools’ enforcement of other provisions of their codes of conduct, such as a non-Title IX policy prohibiting conduct that falls outside of the 2020 Rule’s definition of “sexual harassment.” In such cases, schools can adopt a “non-Title IX sexual harassment” policy that is consistent with the Department’s 2001, 2011, and 2014 Title IX guidances and that does not impose the survivor-hostile procedures required by the 2020 Rule.

Note: The 2020 Rule does not address schools’ responses to sex discrimination that does not constitute sexual harassment. Schools can continue to address sex discrimination that is not sexual in nature—e.g., pregnancy discrimination; anti-LGBTQI+ harassment or discrimination; other sex discrimination in admission, classes, or athletics—using a “prompt and equitable” procedure pursuant to § 106.8(c).