Chancellor’s Message on Title IX

Dear Rutgers University – Newark community members,

In recent days, news reports have emerged indicating that changes are under consideration to Title IX of federal education law—which bans gender discrimination in education programs—that would define gender on an unchangeable biological basis. Clearly, this would run in direct opposition to precedents established through some of the most important civil rights efforts of the past half-century and advancements in our evolving understandings of gender supported by expansive research.

I write first and foremost to express love and support on behalf of our community for all who feel threatened directly by such discriminatory proposals. I write equally to reassure all members of our community that Rutgers University – Newark abhors discrimination against those of us who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming, views as essential the perspectives they bring to our collective life and work as an academic community committed to leveraging diversity in the pursuit of better and more just solutions to the challenges facing the world, and recognizes encroachments on their civil rights as encroachments on the civil rights of us all.

We will maintain these commitments resolutely in the face of attempts to undermine the progress we have made as a nation seeking to become a place where the unalienable rights of all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are truly secured.

In solidarity,

Nancy Cantor
Chancellor