Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced a change to how it enforces one of the country’s oldest civil rights laws. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a final rule rescinding several disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI regulations, the part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination based […]
OCR recently released several disability-related resolutions that give a useful window into where the agency is focusing its attention under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cases came out of very different settings, from a high school honors decision to a field trip and an […]
The Civil Rights Enforcement Landscape Just Shifted. Here’s What It Means. This week, the Department of Education (ED) announced four new Interagency Agreements (IAAs). IAAs are mechanisms used to transfer functions between federal agencies. The IAAs this week move some civil rights enforcement and training responsibilities from ED to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and […]
If you have been paying attention to federal civil rights enforcement this spring, you may have noticed that two very different stories are being told simultaneously – and both of them are true. On April 30, the DOJ announced investigations into 36 Illinois public schools, examining whether those schools have included sexual orientation and gender […]
The recent Trump administration’s lawsuit against Harvard marks a notable shift—not just in what is being enforced, but in how civil rights enforcement is unfolding. If you have been following our Tuesday Takeaways, you know we have covered the campus climate that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel extensively. To briefly recap […]
This week, one of the most closely watched Title IX disputes in higher education is escalating fast with direct implications for every type of institution. On March 6, the California State University (CSU) system and San José State University (SJSU) filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Title IX determination by the ED’s OCR. Rather than […]
Over the past few weeks, we have been tracking how 2026 enforcement is taking shape under Title IX and Title VI. From targeted athletics investigations and harassment litigation to structural Title VI reviews, shared-ancestry inquiries, and heightened Clery scrutiny, the picture that is emerging is one of expanding oversight across nearly every area of civil […]
Last week, we discussed what Title VI enforcement is shaping up to look like in 2026. This was right on the heels of OCR announcing that it has secured 31 resolution agreements with colleges and universities to terminate institutional partnerships with The Ph.D. Project, a nonprofit that supports doctoral-degree attainment. The ED concluded these partnerships […]
Title VI in 2026 is About Structure, Not Headlines Last week, we examined how Title IX enforcement in 2026 is taking shape through visible athletics investigations and litigation-driven accountability in harassment matters. This week, we turn to the other central axis of civil rights compliance this year: Title VI. If Title IX is drawing headlines, […]
As districts and institutions continue to press on and navigate evolving civil rights expectations, two federal developments are worth paying attention to. Last week, the ED dropped its appeal of a federal court decision that blocked guidance warning schools they could lose federal funding over certain diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. A federal judge had […]
