Education · Nationwide · September 30, 2026
Education Dept. Restores 2020 Title IX Rule, Keeping Religious Exemptions Intact
What Alinsky tactic is being used
One of the thirteen rules is in play here.
Rule 3
“Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
The fight over Title IX has been moved onto ground almost no congregation or small Christian school is equipped for: a four-year churn of a 2024 rule, eight preliminary injunctions, nationwide vacatur in Tennessee v. Cardona (Jan. 9, 2025) and Carroll ISD (Feb. 19, 2025), and now a Sept. 29, 2026 recodification. Look at the action items themselves — an exemption letter under 34 C.F.R. § 106.12, a seven-year records retention rule, Federal Register monitoring. Conviction is useless on that terrain; only familiarity with the paperwork is of any use, and whoever is fluent in the paperwork sets the terms.
Counter-Rule 3 · Preparation and Width
Prepare the unfamiliar ground before you are dragged onto it. "I don't know, I'll find out and come back" beats an improvised answer.
Read the actual Federal Register document (FR Doc. 2026-19929) rather than a summary of a summary, and put three documents in one folder this month: your institution's Title IX policy with its number and adoption date, any religious-exemption correspondence with OCR, and your records retention schedule. When asked a question you cannot answer, say 'I don't know, I'll find out and come back' and then come back. Refuse to quote a statute or case number at a public meeting unless you have read the page it is on.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
Know where you stand
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