U.S. Department of Education investigates UW over admittance of KKG transgender member
CHEYENNE – The University of Wyoming is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights over the admittance of a transgender sorority sister at Kappa Kappa Gamma in 2022, according to a Monday news release.
The U.S. Department of Education declared June as 'Title IX Month' on Monday, in recognition of the 53rd anniversary of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
'June will now be dedicated to commemorating women and celebrating their struggle for, and achievement of, equal educational opportunity,' states U.S. Department of Education news release.
In light of this recognition, the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched investigations into UW and Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado. The latter is currently being sued by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group, over a policy implemented by JeffCo that assigns overnight school trip sleeping arrangements based on gender identity, not biological sex, according to Denver7.
'The Department is recognizing June as 'Title IX Month' to honor women's hard-earned civil rights and demonstrate the Trump Administration's unwavering commitment to restoring them to the fullest extent of the law,' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the news release.
'This Administration will fight on every front to protect women's and girls' sports, intimate spaces, dormitories and living quarters, and fraternal and panhellenic organizations.'
The former grabbed nationwide attention after six sorority sisters launched a federal lawsuit against their parent organization over the admittance of its first transgender sorority member, Artemis Langford.
In response to the federal investigation, the university stated it 'doesn't control decisions about sorority and fraternity membership,' a UW spokesperson told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in an emailed statement.
'Appropriately, the university has not been a participant in litigation in federal court regarding the legality of the sorority's decision to admit the transgender student,' UW spokesperson Chad Baldwin said in an email. 'The Office for Civil Rights' initiation of an investigation is not itself evidence of a violation of federal civil rights laws and regulations.'
Baldwin referred to University Regulation 11-4, which states that the university 'does not control or accept responsibility for the activities nor endorse the programs of student organizations,' including sororities and fraternities.
The university maintains it has been and is in compliance with Title IX, but will fully comply with the federal investigation.
The Independent Women's Forum, a right-wing policy group, supported the move by the federal education department in a Monday news release. Its affiliate, the Independent Women's Law Center, involved one of its lead attorneys, May Mailman, in the original lawsuit field by the sorority sisters.
"Women deserve single-sex spaces where their privacy and safety are respected, and universities must be held accountable when those protections are compromised," stated Beth Parlato, senior legal advisor for IWLC, in the news release. "This investigation is a necessary step to ensure that federal policies meant to protect women are being properly enforced and not undermined in the name of political ideology."
The lawsuit
In 2023, six sorority sisters filed a lawsuit against KKG for admitting a transgender sorority member. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in August 2023 by U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson.
Johnson gave the sorority sisters an option to amend their complaint and refile the lawsuit. Instead, the plaintiffs appealed their lawsuit in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Last June, Judge Carolyn B. McHugh found the case was not appealable without a final order from Johnson. She gave the plaintiffs two options: stand on their existing complaint and seek a final decision from the Wyoming judge, or amend their complaint and continue their case at the federal district court level.
It's been nearly a year since the sorority sisters' appealed case was dismissed by the 10th Circuit. In early May, Johnson gave the appellants 30 days to submit their amended complaint, or have the case dismissed permanently.
The sorority sisters have until June 9 to submit their amended complaint.
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