EXCLUSIVE: An educational oversight group has lodged a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education against the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The complaint alleges the university breached Title IX, which forbids sex-based discrimination within educational institutions.
Filed by Defending Education on Wednesday, the complaint targets Wisconsin’s premier public university, which enrolls 50,000 students. It accuses the university of ignoring discrimination laws under the pretext of supporting transgender students, thereby disadvantaging biological women.
The controversy centers around the school’s “UW-6009: Inclusive Facilities Policy and Procedures for All Buildings.”
Bascom Hall is an iconic presence atop Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus. (Photo by Kevin Koeppen/Getty Images)
The policy asserts that in line with the university’s nondiscrimination and inclusivity principles, all students, staff, faculty, and visitors are entitled to use the facilities where they feel safest and most comfortable, without facing harassment or questioning, regardless of their gender identity or birth-assigned sex. This includes the right to select gendered restrooms that align with their comfort and safety preferences across all UW–Madison facilities.
Defending Education argues that the policy effectively allows biological men unrestricted access to private female spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, on campus, leaving women with limited options to challenge this access.
“If women are uncomfortable sharing multi-stall restrooms with biological males, the University instructs them to use a limited number of gender inclusive, single-occupancy restrooms instead,” Defending Education said on their website accompanying a copy of the complaint. “Forcing women to give up the private spaces and facilities that Title IX guarantees is a violation of the spirit, history, and plain text of that law.”
The entrance to the agriculture building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. (youngryand/Getty Images)
In its letter to the DOE, Defending Education notes that Title IX extends to all facilities within a school that receives federal funding.
“UW-Madison’s restroom and locker room policy appears to violate Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause,” the letter says. “Accordingly, we ask that the Department promptly investigate all the allegations in this complaint, act swiftly to remedy unlawful policies and practices, and order appropriate relief.”
Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital that this is the second civil rights complaint the group has filed against the Wisconsin school for “discriminatory practices” in less than a year.
President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during an executive order signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on July 31, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The university’s policies are breathtaking in the vastness of their transgender preferencing, leaving biological females at the university without recourse, and in patent violation of Title IX—a law passed explicitly to secure educational equality for women, and for no other purpose,” she said.
“The University is on the wrong side of the law, and likely knows it. Now, the United States Department of Education knows it too.”
Read the full complaint:
