Authored by Emily Sturge via Campus Reform,
The Trump administration is investigating the University of Wyoming (UW) for allowing a male to join a women’s sorority, an alleged violation of Title IX.
On June 2, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched the probe into UW regarding the incident, but the university asserts it was not involved in the decision to induct the male member and is therefore not in violation of federal law.
“The university’s position has been that it doesn’t control decisions about sorority and fraternity membership … The university believes it has been and is in compliance with Title IX,” UW spokesperson Chad Baldwin told Campus Reform.
In 2022, the Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) chapter at UW became the first women’s sorority to welcome a male member when it allowed 21-year-old Artemis Langford to join.
Langford was permitted to access sorority housing, an alleged violation of Title IX protections for designated female-only intimate and communal spaces.
He was accused by women of inappropriate behavior, such as silently sitting in common spaces in the sorority house and watching them while having “an erection visible through his leggings.”
The incident spurred into a three-year-legal battle, ongoing today.
Despite the university claiming it wasn’t involved in the decision to induct Langford, the Department of Education contends that the university is still ultimately responsible to uphold Title IX.
“A school receiving federal funding that supports, sponsors, or promotes a sorority or fraternity, must meet its obligations under Title IX to protect its students from sex-based harassment and sexual assault, regardless of the sorority or fraternity’s policy,” a press release from the department states.
UW KKG members who previously sued the sorority are celebrating the administration’s investigation.
“I am incredibly grateful that this administration will shed light on everything that has happened to me and my sisters. How lucky are we to have a president and administration that actually cares about women and girls,” UW alumna Allie Coghan, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and an Independent Women sorority ambassador, stated in a press release.
“We hope this case will bring clarity, accountability, and justice not only for us, but for all college sorority women going forward,” said UW senior Maddie Ramar, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit and an Independent Women sorority ambassador.
In 2023, six members of the chapter sued the sorority, but the case was dismissed by a federal judge.
In a 41-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson stated that “the Court will not define ‘woman’ today” and therefore cannot obstruct how a “private, voluntary organization interpreted ‘woman” when making the decision to allow Langford into the sorority.
The lawsuit named KKG, KKG President Mary Pat Rooney, the building corporation, and Artemis Langford as defendants.
“Appropriately, the university has not been a participant in litigation in federal court regarding the legality of the sorority’s decision to admit the transgender student,” Baldwin stated.
The university was not a defendant in the case and does not claim involvement in membership practices.
“University Regulation 11-4 specifically states that the university ‘does not control or accept responsibility for the activities nor endorse the programs of student organizations,’ including sororities and fraternities,” Baldwin told Campus Reform.
The Education Department announced the probe as one of its first initiatives for “Title IX Month” in recognition of the fifty-third anniversary of Title IX of the Educational Amendments (1972) being signed into law.
The Trump administration launched similar probes in California and Maine over alleged violations of Title IX in women’s sports.
UW “intends to fully cooperate with the investigation and will work with the Office for Civil Rights to come into compliance [with Title IX] if needed,” Baldwin concluded.