Parents file Title IX complaint accusing Princeton of ‘gender discrimination’ through gender-neutral bathrooms
Complaint alleges Princeton’s housing and health policies violate federal law by erasing sex-based protections.
The filing cites 'numerous violations' of Title IX and related executive orders, including Princeton’s policy of providing 250 gender-inclusive restrooms, all-gender housing, and access to hormone replacement therapy.
Parents have filed a Title IX complaint against Princeton University alleging that the school’s gender-neutral housing, restrooms and transgender health services discriminate against female students.
Filed on Oct. 31, the complaint filed by Defending Education urges the Department of Education to investigate Princeton “for discrimination on the basis of sex in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.”
The filing cites “numerous violations” of Title IX and related executive orders, including Princeton’s policy of providing 250 gender-inclusive restrooms, all-gender housing, and access to hormone replacement therapy through student health services.
The complaint comes as schools nationwide face increasing scrutiny over Title IX enforcement and gender identity policies, making the filing both timely and significant.
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According to DE, first-year students assigned to Yeh College and New College West are required to use communal “gender-neutral” restrooms with partial stalls that compromise privacy.
“Female students have walked in on men urinating with the door open,” the complaint states. “No student should have to share a bathroom with the opposite sex if they do not feel comfortable doing so.”
The group argues that Princeton is prioritizing some students’ subjective feelings over the safety and privacy of all female students’ rights, who they claims should have a right to female only “intimate spaces.”
The complaint goes into detail to explain why it’s impossible for most female students to be able to opt out of the communal bathrooms because Princeton “randomly assign[s]” first-year students to one of seven residential colleges. Some, but not all, have communal bathrooms, so it’s impossible for women to know what their bathroom situation will look like until they are assigned to their residential space.
As a result, the complaint says, “Princeton forces female students to use ‘communal bathroom stalls [that] have gaps, which makes using them feel less safe and private,’ and which creates situations where female students ‘walk] in on guys literally peeing standing up with the door open.’”
The complaint adds that Princeton’s Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity equates sex discrimination with “sex or gender discrimination,” effectively erasing biological distinctions under Title IX.
Defending Education also criticized Princeton for hosting two separate graduation ceremonies, a “Rose Graduation” celebrating women’s achievements and a “Lavender Graduation” honoring queer and transgender students—calling the distinction “unlawful and discriminatory.”
The organization asked the Department of Education to investigate Princeton’s policies and require the university to bring its practices into compliance with federal law.
Campus Reform reached out to Princeton University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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