Greg Abbott Threatens New Showdown With Joe Biden Administration
Texas Governor Greg Abbott making an announcement on the future of the space industry in Texas, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on March 26, 2024. Abbott has instructed universities in Texas not to adopt a modified version of the Title IX anti-discrimination legislation which has been proposed by the Biden administration.
Governor Greg Abbott has warned Texas A&M University "they are jeopardizing state funding" amid media reports it will comply with a Biden administration update to Title IX, which extends legislation to ban discrimination over gender identity.
On April 1 the Biden administration announced it was updating Title IX, part of a 1972 amendment to the 1965 Higher Education Act which bans any educational body receiving federal funding from discriminating based on sex. The new changes, which are scheduled to take effect on August 1, extend this to cover discrimination over gender identity in a bid to protect transgender students, and removes a Trump-era edit giving more rights to students accused of sexual misconduct.
Governor Abbott has developed into a significant thorn in President Biden's side in recent months, challenging the White House on a range of policy areas including education and how to control irregular immigration. Earlier this month he wrote an open letter instructing Texas universities and public colleges to "ignore" the Title IX revision, which he argued would "impose a leftists belief and erase advancements our state has made."
On Monday Abbott shared an article on X, formerly Twitter, from local radio network KTRH which, citing news website Texas Scorecard, claimed Texas A&M "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."
Newsweek contacted Texas A&M University and Governor Abbott's office for comment at around 2:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday. This article will be updated if either decides to comment.
In a statement sent to WTAW radio after receiving Abbott's letter Texas A&M University said 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."
Speaking to Newsweek following Abbott's letter an Education Department spokesperson said: "The Department crafted the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process to give complete effect to the Title IX statutory guarantee that no person experiences 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."
According to Abbott's office his letter instructing educational institutions in Texas to ignore the Title IX update was sent 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."
Biden's Title IX updates have also come under attack from some activists who argue they don't go far enough in defending transgender rights. In particular they want Title IX to explicitly block educational institutions from banning transgender students from taking part in competitions in accordance with their gender identity.
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