In 2025, nearly all civil rights investigations opened against K-12 schools and colleges focused on sex discrimination due to transgender policies, antisemitism, and reverse discrimination
Percent of civil rights investigations
Source: Author’s calculations using a dataset created by the Hechinger Report (as of December 3, 2025). See notes below for additional details.
Note: Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination and Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or shared ancestry. The category “Reverse discrimination” refers to investigations into equity-oriented policies and programs including race-conscious scholarships, programs, and/or other selection processes. Most of the reverse discrimination Title VI cases in higher ed were opened to investigate colleges with ties to the PhD Project. Bars do not sum to 100% as investigations can span multiple issue areas.