Federal judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to end Title IX exemptions … – Higher Ed Dive

In her ruling, Aiken noted the students had provided the court with roughly 400 exhibits to back up allegations of institutional discrimination, including denial of student housing, coerced conversion therapy, and expulsion. However, she wrote, they didn’t craft a strong enough legal argument to do away with religious exemptions. 
Three religious colleges —  Corban University, in Oregon, William Jessup University, in California, and Phoenix Seminary, in Arizona — intervened in the lawsuit to defend the exemptions. The colleges are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group.
Aiken threw out the case, calling the plaintiffs’ arguments “confusing and contradictory.”
To make a successful argument, the plaintiffs would have to show that federal lawmakers intended to discriminate against protected groups when they created the religious exemption, Aiken wrote. Instead, the plaintiffs argued that discrimination against sexual and gender minorities were “of no concern” to Congress at the time. 
“Plaintiffs do not plausibly demonstrate that the religious exemption was motivated by any impermissible purpose — let alone that Congress was ‘wholly’ motivated by such an impermissible purpose,” she wrote.
The Alliance Defending Freedom applauded the decision on Thursday.
“A federal district court today rightly rejected an unfounded assault on the religious freedom of faith-based educational institutions,” David Cortman, senior counsel for the group, said in a statement. “Title IX, which applies to schools receiving federal financial assistance, explicitly protects the freedom of religious schools to live out their deeply and sincerely held convictions.”
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs and the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, an advocacy group representing them, told Reuters they are considering an appeal.
“It’s frustrating that the Court has enough sense to know we’ve been hurt and impacted but still won’t do anything to prevent this discrimination from continuing to happen,” Rachel Held, one of the student plaintiffs, said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
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Florida universities spend $34.5M on diversity. AAUP rips Florida colleges’ anti-woke statement. New effort promotes open-access scholarly books.
University of Pennsylvania was waiving its $400 deposit for about a fifth of its students. Abandoning it aims to reduce barriers for low-income students.
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