The national education advocacy organization Defending Education filed a Title IX civil rights complaint against UW-Madison on Wednesday, referencing issues regarding access to gender-specific restrooms, according to The Center Square.
The complaint said UW’s policies focus on gender identity rather than sex and allow for male students to use female restrooms, instructing female students to use a limited number of gender inclusive, single-occupancy restrooms if they are uncomfortable.
UW has not received any contact from the Office of Civil Rights regarding the complaint, but will cooperate with an investigation if it receives notice, according to an emailed statement from UW Spokesperson John Lucas.
“Pending additional decisions on this topic from 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers a handful of states, including Wisconsin,) or the U.S. Supreme Court, UW-Madison remains legally obligated to allow students, faculty, staff and any member of the public (if applicable) to use UW restroom facilities that most align with their own gender identity,” Lucas wrote.
Defending Education is a national grassroots organization committed to protecting schools from “activists imposing harmful agendas”, according to their website.
Defending Education did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson from the conservative youth outreach organization Young Americans for Freedom of UW-Madison said there is a shared disapproval of UW’s policies in a written statement. It is unconscionable that the university destroyed women-only spaces, the spokesperson said.
“Female students deserve to feel safe on this campus, but the transgender bathroom policy is a direct attack on women’s rights,” according to a written statement by the Young Americans for Freedom of UW-Madison spokesperson.
The College Democrats of UW-Madison speak to many students across campus and have not seen the issue of restroom usage as a topic of concern, according to UW-Madison College Dems Vice Chair Whitman Bottari.
Bottari said she hopes students’ lack of concern on the issue has some meaning for the Department of Education as they look into the complaint.
“I’d say it’s a distraction from the issues that students actually care about, which are cost of housing and the ability to pay their tuition,” Bottari said. “College Dems fully supports the right of students to use whatever bathroom feels the most comfortable.”
