Dive Brief:
- A report by the Human Rights Campaign argues a growing number of colleges are applying for waivers to get out of the anti-discrimination components of Title IX, including 56 colleges that have received them since 2013.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Title IX, best known for opening access to women in sports and requiring colleges to respond to sexual assault allegations, has a clause that allows schools to get a waiver from parts of the law that cover gender identity and sexual orientation when it goes against their religious tenets.
- The 56 schools identified by the Human Rights Campaign have received waivers just since 2013, and 43 of them were approved this year, giving the schools the right to discriminate against certain groups.
Dive Insight:
As United States law has expanded to protect more groups from discrimination, religious organizations have been able to capitalize on exemptions based on their beliefs. The idea of being free to discriminate has caused protests by consumers when it was food and retail businesses wanting to get around the law, as with Hobby Lobby with birth control. The Human Rights Campaign’s report could prompt protests at or directed toward the colleges with exemptions, or those requesting them — Colorado Christian University, Missouri Baptist University, Trinity Bible College, and the University of Dallas all have pending requests for waivers, according to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.