The state House of Representatives debated then voted overwhelmingly in favor of two resolutions that authorize educators to enforce state law over new Title IX regulations, as more than 100 protesters chanted in favor of transgender rights in the rotunda of the Utah State Capitol on Wednesday.

The bills were also overwhelmingly approved by the Utah Senate. Votes were cast largely along partisan lines.

Convening in a special session, Utah lawmakers passed HCR301, sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, which will “prohibit a government officer from enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of the new regulations promulgated under Title IX.”

Earlier this year, Birkeland sponsored HB257 during the Legislature’s General Session. It requires K-12 students to use public school restrooms that match their sex designated at birth, restricting transgender access to “privacy spaces” in public schools and other publicly-owned buildings.

They also passed companion legislation, HJR301, sponsored by Rep. Neil Walter, R-St. George, which declares “Utah has the sovereign authority with rights and responsibilities to safeguard Utah’s men, women and children.”

The resolution states that the new Title IX regulations constitute “an overreach of federal administrative authority that violates Utah’s rights and interests to provide for the health, safety, welfare of, and to promote the prosperity of, Utah residents.”

The federal Department of Education’s new Title IX rules, set to take effect on Aug. 1, change the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation.

The new rules also broaden the definition of sexual harassment and stipulate that colleges and universities are no longer required to hold live hearings to allow students to cross-examine each other. Universities can still hold live hearings if they choose to but students will have the option to participate remotely and stop questions they find “unclear or harassing.”

According to leaders of the Utah State Board of Education, K-12 Utah educators have been asking for guidance on how to comply with the federal guidelines given conflicts between the regulations and state law. The board urged lawmakers to invoke the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act, which prohibits enforcement of a federal directive by “government officers” if the Legislature determines it “violates the principles of state sovereignty.”

Declining to enforce the federal rule could put federal education funding in jeopardy. In a gathering with reporters prior to the start of the special session, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said the federal government provides about 10% of what Utah spends annually on education.

Much of that funding supports programs that serve some of the state’s most disadvantaged children, including Title I programs, school nutrition programs and special education.

Schultz said the state has sufficient funding in reserves to make up the difference if the federal government pulled Utah’s funding.

Utah is willing to sacrifice the funding to stand by its principles, he said.

“We’re on pretty solid legal ground,” Schultz said, noting recent federal district court rulings in Kentucky and Louisiana that have temporarily blocked the new Title IX rule from taking effect, with one judge describing the rule as an “abuse of power” by the Biden administration.

Utah has joined three other Republican-led states and four private entities in a lawsuit that challenges the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX rule as well.

“State’s rights means something and the overreach from the Biden administration and the federal government has gotten out of control. Federalism is the way forward,” Schultz said.

University of Utah law professor Cliff Rosky, however, said he believes the underpinning of the resolutions passed by lawmakers, the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act, “is unconstitutional. He said it violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, which declares federal law, the “supreme law of the land.”

Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said Utah had dealt with the issue of transgender rights “better than any other state. You’ve seen states actually ban transgender sports. We put together a commission. There’s not another state in the nation that’s put together the commission to deal with transgender sports. We’ve led the nation. People shouldn’t be protesting. They should be celebrating what we’ve done,” he said.

The votes on the resolutions were split between Republicans and Democrats, with supporters applauding the move to back states rights and opponents expressing concern about the impact of the votes on transgender youth.

“We don’t need to pit one vulnerable population against another. Transgender kids are not an enemy. They’re not a threat to women. They are kids” struggling to live their lives “and the odds are against them. We should not be the ones making it harder for them,” said Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Millcreek.

In Senate debate, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said by passing the resolutions and previous legislation, “we’ve pounded a stake in the ground and said on these issues, Utah will stand firm and protect women. We’ve passed several bills to that regard and to the extent that the federal government is trying through inappropriate overreach to subvert those laws, we rely on SB57 that we passed. We rely on these resolutions. We say, ‘Not on our watch.’”

Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, said she has been “unable to figure out if there is a right way to implement (previously passed) policy that is wrong. To me this feels wrong. It doesn’t feel right. It just feels like targeting. This feels politicized and truly it feels like we are really doubling down on hate for an already very marginalized, sometimes unloved-feeling section of our population.”

Sen. Dan Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said the Legislature’s action “very seriously places in jeopardy the $696 million that the federal government provides for nutrition programs, for Title I, for career and technical education, and especially for special ed. So while I do believe we have the authority to do this, and while I do believe that they do not have constitutional leverage … I do believe that that the lack of constitutional leverage will compel them to threaten funding. That’s the biggest thing that I’m worried about. I think this has huge risk.”

HJR301 states that the Education Department “has corrupted the mission of Title IX,” which is to promote women’s and girls sports and protect women and girls from discrimination in education and sports.

Moreover, the new regulations “harm students on college and university campuses by dictating the manner in which a student speaks and expresses opinions or thoughts, altering college and university anti-harassment processes and procedures, and interfering with a student’s due process rights.”

The resolution also states that the rule requires government support of abortion services “in direct conflict with the abortion ‘neutrality’ provisions adopted by Congress” and usurping Utah’s state laws on abortion.

According to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, schools must not discriminate against any student, or exclude any student from their education program or activity, including any class or extracurricular activity, “based on a student’s pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery therefrom.” Discrimination against a school employee based on these conditions is likewise prohibited.

According to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, schools must not discriminate against any student, or exclude any student from their education program or activity, including any class or extracurricular activity, “based on a student’s pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery therefrom.” Discrimination against a school employee based on these conditions is likewise prohibited.

HJR301 also states that the Utah Legislature “finds that the new regulations disadvantage women and girls who participate in women’s and girl’s sports by requiring that they compete against biological males.”

The Education Department has stated the final regulations do not include new rules governing eligibility criteria for athletic teams.

A statement by Equality Utah said the state would invariably “embark on costly and time-consuming litigation, all so that the state can continue to police bathroom usage by children. It is high time that Utah starts focusing its resources on helping our children achieve success rather than using them as pawns to score political points.”

Other education bills passed by lawmakers

Utah lawmakers also passed HB3001, which clarifies Utah law by allowing foreign exchange students to participate in the Statewide Online Education Program.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, said without changes to the law some 200 students would be unable to complete their high school graduation requirements.

Under current law, the custodial parent of a student enrolled in a private or home school and taking an SOEP course must be a resident of Utah. HB3001 expands participation in the program by allowing foreign exchange students enrolled in a private school, whose custodial parent lives outside of Utah, to participate.

In other action, the Utah Legislature passed HB3003 to clarify the process for splitting a school district as communities in the Alpine School District, the largest district statewide with more than 87,000 students, contemplate a split.

Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, the bill’s sponsor, said the intent of the legislation was to avoid a “messy ballot” and a “messy outcome” if various options to split the district appear on ballots and more than one passes.

The bill eliminates the option for a local school board to initiate the process to create a new school district. It also creates a withdrawal process should voters approve a split and clarifies terms of school board members and other provisions.

ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — The Utah woman charged with sexual battery for allegedly yanking on a teenager’s miniskirt in a St. George restaurant made her first court appearance Wednesday in a case that garnered national attention due to a viral TikTok video.

Ida Ann Lorenzo, 48, of Santa Clara, stood silently in 5th District Court for her initial appearance since being charged with the Class A misdemeanor in April. Her attorney, Susanne Gustin, answered routine questions, and Lorenzo’s next appearance was slated for July 30.

The sexual battery charge against Lorenzo came in the wake of an incident on April 20 in the packed entryway of Sakura Japanese Steakhouse. Lorenzo told police she tugged down a teenager’s miniskirt after claiming the teen’s buttocks and vagina were exposed to the people in the lobby, including a young child.

The aftermath of the alleged skirt-pulling was captured by one of the 19-year-old’s friends, and the video has since amassed more than 14 million views on TikTok. In the viral clip, Lorenzo described herself as a Utah state employee and threatened to call Child Protective Services on the teenager.

While Lorenzo was the first to contact police, the teenager also came forward, prompting an investigation. Per St. George police body camera footage obtained by ABC4.com, the teenager told the investigating officer that Lorenzo came up to her unannounced and pulled her skirt down from behind, leaving her feeling violated.

The teenager disputed that her genitals were exposed, telling police she was wearing underwear that night. She also provided a video to the investigator showing her wearing the skirt and spinning around in it.

In Lorenzo’s several discussions with the investigating officer, he repeatedly told her that unwanted touching of someone’s private areas is against the law, even if the touching only happens on clothing. Lorenzo denied ever touching the teenager’s skin.

On April 24, Lorenzo was arrested and charged with sexual battery. The next day, she lost her job with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, where she’d been hired only weeks before as a legal secretary, as shown in documents obtained by ABC4.com. Lorenzo has since created a GoFundMe page to help support herself and her family.

In Utah, a Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail and fines up to $2,500.

Utah’s post-secondary system is “probably the best deal in higher education in the country,” said Taylor Randall, who leads the University of Utah.

Yet while he and other university presidents stressed the value of a college degree, they also emphasized the institution needs to fit the student. Individualization, Randall said, is the key to success.

Utahns and graduates from Utah institutions who spoke with The Salt Lake Tribune each had different experiences in post-secondary education — and varying opinions on the worth of their degrees. Some of them talked about how college broadened their horizons, or allowed them to earn more in their fields.

But they had differing views on whether those positives outweigh the high cost of tuition.

‘Enormous’ difference between list price and what students pay

The average cost of in-state tuition, fees and books and supplies at six Utah universities — Utah Tech University, Utah Valley University, Southern Utah University, Weber State University, Utah State University and the University of Utah — is about $7,200.

But there’s an “enormous” difference between the list price and what students pay, Randall said.

For example, the listed annual price for the University of Utah is about $10,000 for in-state students, he said, but students pay an average of $3,500 their freshman year and $5,000 the remaining three years.

Even at full price, the average cost for Utah residents is about $33,000 not including room and board. That’s less than a Toyota 4Runner or the cost of four years of day care for many parents.

Graduates have starting salaries close to $65,000, Randall said, meaning the “massive lift in their career” from their degree pays for itself “relatively quickly.”

Individual stories beyond the overall data, though, are “so powerful,” said Weber State University President Brad Mortensen.

Mortensen told the story of one student who lost all of her money by identity theft, not long after her mother died of cancer. She had to live in her car for a time, he said, but she’s now back at Weber State and is thriving.

“We can transform your life from really difficult circumstances to being able to thrive and be successful,” Mortensen said. “And that’s really what we’re meant to do as institutions of higher education.”

Most people stress non-economic benefits

Helping people succeed means tailoring students’ individual experiences, said Utah State University President Betsy Cantwell.

And individuals can have vastly different views of their own college experience.

Mike Kofoed said he found his passion in economy at Weber State. He’s now a research assistant professor at University of Tennessee, teaching economics and using research to help college be more efficient.

Kofoed credited an internship with Mortensen and his classroom experiences for leading him to where he is now. Professors took the time to be mentors and help him see the world differently, he said, and he tries to do the same with his students.

Kofoed also took part in student government at Weber State, and, he said, he learned a lot from working with others.

“It really helped me get to know people from various walks of life and perspectives, which helped me understand them better,” Kofoed said.

That was also key for Amber McMullin, who went to a “rural, isolated high school” where all her friends looked like her.

Her years at Brigham Young University led to her understanding poverty for the first time, learning how to grocery shop — because her parents weren’t within driving distance — and otherwise growing and gaining independence.

Jen James said post-secondary education also helped her mature. She pointed to self-discovery, making “friendships that last a lifetime,” meeting her husband and other experiences as things she sees as opportunities unique to her time at Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah.

“It provided me, just, experiences and put me in situations that maybe people who don’t go to school don’t get to do,” James said.

As a first-generation college graduate, James said, a degree was also her “ticket out of poverty.”

“I thought that it was going to be the answer to my struggles in my life up to that point,” she said.

It’s not for everyone

James said she has found a degree helps her jump through hoops, but said it isn’t necessarily for everyone.

“I find that you’ve got to have the oomph, that indescribable drive to go to school, to want it,” James said. “But you can also find those values, those drives, those inspirations in trades, in hobbies that make you money.”

Tom Nedreberg agreed that there’s value not just in a degree but also potentially in some extra form of training that makes someone stand out as a candidate.

That’s especially true because in many cases, higher education is “so expensive that students have a lot more barriers getting into school,” Nedreberg said.

When he graduated from Ohio State University in the 1970s, tuition was $800 a year. Now it’s more than $30,000 even for in-state tuition, he said.

Those “skyrocketing” costs outweigh the benefits for many students, Ryan Bell said, especially when they’re stuck paying off student loan debt.

Bell had enough scholarships and other financial help to cover his degree at Westminster University, but still thinks it wasn’t worth it. He has a degree in psychology that he acknowledged has helped open some doors, but he said he doesn’t use it in his career.

“The only meaningful way to continue is to get a post-grad degree,” Bell said. “I just haven’t had a chance or the money to do that.”

Bell helps screen resumés, and he said he has seen people “abandoning degrees in favor of equivalent experience.”

Utahns who responded to a nonscientific Tribune poll were most likely to say a four-degree is economically worth the cost — about 73.2% agreed with that statement in a question with a scaled response.

Many more of them — 72 of the 82 who responded to the survey — agreed that there are non-economic values associated with a four-year degree.

Americans overall seem to agree with Bell. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, just 25% of U.S. adults said it was extremely or very important to have a four-year degree to get a well-paying job.

In comparison, 40% said a four-year degree is not all that important or isn’t important at all. And about half said it’s less important than it was 20 years ago.

Similar to Bell’s opinion, that could be influenced by cost, with 22% saying the cost of a degree is worth it even with loans. That’s compared to 47% who said it’s worth it only if someone doesn’t have to take out loans, and 29% who said a degree isn’t worth the cost at all.

Finishing degree is key

Yet, advocates said. research and the evolving economy point to higher education being more important than in the past.

The move from manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy means “most workers are going to need to touch higher education in some form,” Kofoed said.

That could mean a two-year degree or a certificate, he said, and people getting those may eventually earn more than the lowest-paid careers that require a four-year degree.

But on average, he said, getting a four-year degree means making about 28% more over a lifetime than a two-year degree.

There are times, Kofoed said, when it makes sense to look at trade school, certificates or other non-four-year programs — namely when someone thinks they can’t finish their degree.

“Students get in trouble when they enter a four-year degree program, get into debt, then don’t finish,” he said.

The ability to explore different fields is good, he said, but not when someone gets stuck exploring.

University presidents stressed the importance of finishing a degree, and said that’s why it’s so important to for schools to figure out how to make higher education not only affordable but also something people can succeed at.

“It’s immensely powerful to be part of innovators in delivering the experience students have, because we know that is actually something we need to improve on,” USU’s Cantwell said.

Megan Banta is The Salt Lake Tribune’s data enterprise reporter, a philanthropically supported position. The Tribune retains control over all editorial decisions.