WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday proposed new rules governing how schools must respond to sex discrimination, rolling back major parts of a Trump administration policy that narrowed the scope of campus sexual misconduct investigations and cementing the rights of transgender students into law.

The proposal would overhaul expansive rules finalized under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which for the first time codified how universities, colleges and K-12 schools investigate sexual assault and harassment on campus.

The proposal is certain to set up a clash with conservative state and federal lawmakers, and draw legal action from conservative groups that had already begun railing against the department’s position, issued last year, that transgender students were protected under Title IX.

The Trump administration rules, issued in 2020, narrowed the definition of sexual harassment, expanded the due process rights of students accused of harassment and assault, relieved schools of certain legal liabilities, and required schools to hold courtoom-like proceedings called “live hearings” that allowed cross-examination of the parties involved.

A fact sheet circulated by the Biden administration said that the new rules sought to “restore vital protections for students in our nation’s schools which were eroded by controversial regulations implemented during the previous administration.” It also said the Trump rules “weakened protections for survivors of sexual assault and diminished the promise of an education free from discrimination.”.

The newly proposed rules were informed by a vast array of stakeholder input over a year and a half, officials said, including a nationwide virtual public hearing.

Obama’s administration never drafted formal rules on the issue, but issued guidance documents in 2011 and 2014 that attempted to capture the entire universe of sexual harassment claims and remedies, and the department’s enforcement purview.

The rules proposed on Thursday were widely viewed as a victory for critics of the Trump-era rules, particularly by advocates for sexual assault survivors, who had assailed the Trump rules as too stringent and potentially traumatizing or obstructive for victims.

The proposal expands the definition of what constitutes sexual harassment, and the types of episodes that schools are obligated to address and investigate — to include, for example, incidents that took place off campus or abroad, as well as incidents that create a “hostile environment.” The new rules would also roll back the most controversial of Ms.

The Biden proposal to define sex-based discrimination and harassment to include “stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” is likely to become the bigger lightning rod.

The rules come as a debate over transgender students’ participation on sports teams roils statehouses and school boards across the country.

The proposed rules do dictate that “preventing someone from participating in school programs and activities consistent with their gender identity would cause harm in violation of Title IX,” but do not directly address the issue of denying transgender students the opportunity to play on sports teams that correspond to their gender identity

The rules also come after a handful of incidents reported in recent weeks that signaled hostility toward schools that have sought to uphold the rights of transgender students