Education Dept’s new Title IX rollbacks could lead to more cases like the Cornell Seven

September 28. 2026

---

For Immediate Release
Sep 28, 2026

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

Today’s Trump Administration Title IX changes will weaken protections for student sexual assault survivors and protect serial assailants

 

Sept. 28, 2026—The Trump administration today finalized a rule to formally roll back Title IX protections for student survivors of sexual assault and remove protections for LGBTQ+ students. 

The rule was finalized on the same day that an investigation into the high-profile Cornell gang rape was reopened, highlighting the ways in which college sexual assault cases are already too often mishandled by school officials, effectively protecting assailants, punishing student survivors for reporting, and pushing survivors to drop out of school at disproportionate rates.

“These changes were never about protecting women and girls. They are about protecting abusers and targeting LGBTQ+ students.” 

-Maha Ibrahim, ERA

The new rule arrives in the midst of the “Red Zone”— the first six to 10 weeks of school during which risk for college sexual assault is especially high. An estimated one in five college women experience sexual assault before graduating.

“The Cornell case shows us exactly why our students need and deserve strong Title IX protections,” said Maha Ibrahim, Director of Gender-Based Violence Law & Programming at Equal Rights Advocates. “These changes were never about protecting women and girls. They are about protecting abusers and targeting LGBTQ+ students.”

Today’s move from the Trump Administration formally rescinded Biden-era Title IX regulations, which had already been vacated last January by two federal court rulings. The rescinded Biden-era regulations included increasing protections for LGBTQ+ students; requiring schools to move proactively on sexual assault cases; extending jurisdiction to off-campus incidents; requiring schools to investigate a broader range of misconduct; and providing stronger protections for survivors throughout the Title IX investigation and adjudication process. 

The changes seek to ensure the Trump administration’s multi-year attack on student survivors could take several additional years to address or repeal at the federal level, including by a different future administration.

 

To request an interview contact Nazirah Ahmad at [email protected] or 704-290-6869.

### 

 

About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation. equalrights.org